Let's Cuddle Together
by The Dark Deceiver
Summary: When two people cuddle up together, normally it's a wonderful thing. A man and woman, boy and girl, holding each other intimately, just enjoying each other's presence. Every guy's dream, right? However, when ALL the girls in Beacon want to snuggle with you, well, that's another story entirely.
1. Comfort During The Storm

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own RWBY, nor the idea that created this story. All credit for the idea goes to my friend_ **Cardshark92** _, (_ _who you can find on my favorite authors list) who came up with the idea, more info after the chapter._

 **Note:** _This is not an OC x Harem fanfic. A harem is when the male protagonist has a plethora of women, all romantically involved with him. That is not the case here. None of the following chapters and situations happen due to romantic interest, everything here is **strictly** platonic friendship (or him just being used).  
_

* * *

Beacon Academy. Vale's most prestigious academy for those wishing to become Huntsmen and Huntresses. A good a school as any to spend four years living in. Or, at least that's what's supposed to happen.

See, students at Beacon are put into teams of four. Additionally, the first person they make eye contact with during the school's initiation will be their partner for the next four years. Four teenagers living together for four years, in the same dorm room. Many times there's at least one or two girls in a team with two boys, sometimes even one boy on a team of girls. Sounds like a dream come true for most guys, right?

Unfortunately, that's not the case for me. See, as it sometimes happens, there's an odd number of students that will attend Beacon. And sometimes teams will be uneven, or there'll even be students who don't get a team, or a partner.

As it just so happens, I'm that unlucky guy this year. No team, no partner. With no other available teams open, I was unfortunately forced to go it alone. For the next four years. Now, I'm an average student. I'm nothing special, I don't stand out in a crowd, I don't even LOOK the slightest bit special. You'd never notice me in a group.

Why is all this information seemingly important? Well, it's because of my current situation. See, sometimes teams and partners become MORE than just friends. OK, make that a lot of the time. As such, a single, lone, male student, with no team or partner ends up becoming the attention of every girl who's THAT desperate.

Or in my case, desperate for someone to cuddle up to when they're scared, lonely, cold, etc. Unfortunately, this makes ME their prime target, due to lack of partner who'd disapprove of a girl dragging me off to cuddle with. Normally any sane, healthy teenage boy would love this attention. Just one problem; the girls in Beacon fit into three categories:

 **Strong.**

 **Scary.**

 **Crazy.**

Yeah, when it's like that, the thrill tends to die out real fast. It's not entirely all bad though, sometimes the situation is nice, and some good comes out of it, for the other party involved. But enough explaining, let me just show you.

* * *

While I wasn't on a team, I still wound up interacting with other students and teams over the first semester at Beacon. In particular were two teams, RWBY and JNPR. I don't know why, but they really stood out for some reason. Could it have something to do with the fact that RWBY is led by a fifteen year old little girl, who was admitted into Beacon two years early? Was it due to the fact that Pyrrha Nikos herself was in Team JNPR?

I have no idea, but I felt drawn to both teams nonetheless. I got to know them a little, and they were kind enough to accept a teamless average joe such as myself into their little community circle. They're an interesting bunch, and I find myself enjoying the times I spend with them. However, I end up learning something new every time I see them.

This was one such time. It was a cold day. Really cold. A storm had just hit out of nowhere, complete with huge flashes of lightning, and loud crashes of thunder. I was walking in the halls, when the three older girls that made up Team RWBY came around the corner, sans Ruby, which was a little odd.

"Hey girls, what's up?" I greeted them cheerfully. When they returned my greeting, they did it halfheartedly, as though distracted.

"Where's Ruby?" I asked, and that got their full attention, as well as answered my question about where the little mini-reaper was.

"She's hiding," Yang said simply. I raised an eyebrow, and motioned for her to elaborate, which she thankfully did, "Ruby doesn't like storms. The thunder and lightning scare her, and she always takes off at full speed at some random place to hide, until the storm's over."

Ah, that explained it. While she IS the leader of their team, and a gifted fighter, I keep forgetting that she's only fifteen.

"Want me to help look for her?"

Yang smiled, and readily accepted my offer. When I inquired about where Ruby would most likely be hiding, Yang only shrugged, saying that it'd be somewhere she'd probably feel safe. Well, Beacon's a big school, so that could be anywhere. This wasn't going to be easy.

I wandered the school for maybe an hour or two, calling Ruby's name and asking everyone I came across if they had seen her. No such luck. It's not easy, looking for someone who's scared and in hiding, especially in a huge academy.

I checked the kitchens, the library, the infirmary, several classrooms, and briefly met up with her teammates at their dorm to see if they had any luck. None whatsoever. I went back to my search, determined to find her. It was because of Ruby's kind nature and ready acceptance of people that I was able to make friends with teams RWBY and JNPR, and I wasn't going to leave her huddled somewhere scared if I could help it.

I decided to check one last place before giving up on searching inside the building. If she wasn't there, she wasn't anywhere inside; The school's smithy.

It wasn't used much, as most students forged their weapons at one of the many smaller academies instead. But the higher ups had decided that a smithy was needed for students to upgrade, repair, or forge new weapons. Being a weapons nut, Ruby had to be there.

I opened the door, and flipped the light on. The room was empty, but I went in anyway, closing the door behind me.

"Ruby?" I called out softly, hoping not to startle the girl. The last thing I needed was scaring her and making her run off somewhere. Or worse, attack me!

I was greeted with silence, and sighed. Looks like she wasn't in here after all. As I turned to leave, a loud crash of thunder shook the windows, and I heard a muffled "Eeep!" from somewhere within the room. Turning, I looked around cautiously, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound.

"Ruby, is that you?" I called out softly again, and this time, a very faint whimpering answered me. I looked around the room, confused. Where was she? I checked the cupboards that held the materials and tools needed for forging weapons, I even checked the forge itself, just in case she had crawled into it.

And there she was, huddled up in her cloak, shaking like a flame buffeted by a fierce wind, Crescent Rose in its gun form, clutched close to her.

"Ruby." I said softly, standing just the smallest bit away from her. I didn't dare reach out and touch her, not in her state. I didn't want her accidentally attacking me, and the presence of her scythe made that possibility all the more real.

After calling her name a few more times, she finally glanced over her shoulder at me, and I smiled warmly, and slowly reached a hand out.

"Hey, it's OK now. Why don't you come out, and I'll help you get back to your dorm. Your sister's been looking for you for hours now."

What happened next I did not expect. Ruby stared at me for a few seconds, before launching herself at me full speed, easily knocking me off my feet. I lay on my back, winded, and looked down. Ruby was firmly attached to me, one arm wrapped around my body, the other around her scythe like it was a teddybear.

"Uh, Ruby?" I asked tentatively, and her grip on me tightened.

"C-can we stay like this for a while?"

Well, that made my brain stop working properly for a minute. Don't judge me. An, admittedly, adorable girl only two years younger than you tackles you to the ground, and holds herself close to you with an iron grip? And WANTS to stay in that position for a while? Your brain would shutdown too.

Before I could think of anything to say, Ruby continued speaking;

"W-when I was little, and a storm would come along...m-my mother would hold me close and comfort me."

Oh. _Oh._ Well, that explained this situation then. I thought about my own mother, off doing something in a different kingdom entirely, and I felt a pang in my heart.

"Of course." I said, smiling at the top of her head, and drawing her close to me. Her shaking slowly stopped, and her breathing slowed. She still tensed up whenever a rumble of thunder happened, but she was slowly calming down.

Aaand falling asleep. I carefully tilted my head at an angle to see her face, and yep, she was asleep. To be honest, with all the walking I did, I was feeling tired too. With my free arm, I took out my scroll and sent Yang a message.

 _Found Ruby. She's currently passed out, clutching me like a vice. We're in the school's smithy if you want to come get her. Please don't hurt me.  
_

Closing my scroll, I reluctantly let my eyes close. I had enough time to hope that Yang wouldn't outright kill me when she arrived before I passed out, Ruby nestled at my side.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** _So, this is the result of a friend of mine making a post in a RWBY group on Facebook, talking about how it was cold and windy where he lives, perfect cuddling weather. He then went on to make a list of the girls in the show, and how they'd cuddle up with you. I was given permission by him to write out a story from the prompts, so here it is!  
_

 _This is Ruby's chapter from the list. As usual with all my works, things escalated quickly from the original idea, which was **"**_ _ **Ruby uses Crescent Rose as a teddy bear, keeping one arm wrapped around her weapon and one wrapped around your body"**. For some reason, I wanted to make her scared and wanting comfort like she used to get from her mother. Probably a bad idea, but we'll see._

 _Until I can no longer get away with it, the main character will not have a name. Also, this is one of the few times he's willing to cuddle. Most of the time, he is unwilling. VERY unwilling. I'm sure many of you will be wondering, why make an unnamed OC for this story? Well, it's because it works better that way with what I have in mind.  
_

 _It'd be easy to make it Jaune, or Ren, or any of the other boys from the show, but that's overdone, doesn't fit, and more difficult to write. As for the guy being unnamed for as long as I can keep it, it just feels more natural to me._


	2. White Isn't Always Cold

**Chapter Two**

* * *

It was an awkward, and briefly terrifying, week for me. When I had awoken after drifting off to sleep, Ruby was gone. That could mean one of two things;

 **1\. She woke up and left.**

 **2\. Yang came and picked her up.**

Either way was terrifying, because regardless, Yang would find out what happened, and I was afraid she'd go full "Mama Bear" mode on me, and I'd end up splattered all over the walls of Beacon. But as the days went by, Yang did not come to confront me.

I was a paranoid wreck during that time, always looking over my shoulder, wondering when she'd strike. We didn't share classes often, since I didn't have a team or partner, that meant I had to do a lot more work than normal students, to make up for it. If I'm being honest, I'm not that good at homework.

Of course, this schedule had so far saved me, as I didn't see Team RWBY, and they didn't see me, which meant I got to live a little longer. And then I was heading to lunch one day, and just so happened to bump right into Yang from around a corner.

I have no problem in admitting, I cringed and threw my arms up in front of me like a shield, trying to defend my face and torso from the expected onslaught. When nothing happened, I slowly opened one eye, and peeked out from behind my arms.

Yang was standing right there, smirking at me, obviously taking joy in the fact that I was cringing before her. What was she going to do, enjoy my terror before turning me into a fine red mist? Or maybe, just maybe, she didn't know what transpired that day?

"'Sup, Cuddlebug?"

Well, there goes that theory. I wonder if I have enough time to write out my Will on my scroll, maybe get an epitaph for my grave. _Here lies a fool who dared cuddle with, and fall asleep next to, Ruby Rose. Her sister found out and turned him into chunky salsa. We used it for your tacos._

Yang must have noticed my fear, which was probably obvious from the start, because she started laughing, walked up to me, and pushed me down.

"What, you think I'm going to hurt you or something?"

I gave it some thought, and nodded.

"Yes. Absolutely."

This seemed to amuse her more, if her laughter redoubling was anything to go by. Once she calmed down, she shook her head and patted my own. I didn't dare get up from the ground, not if this was all a trick.

"Look, I'm not going to hurt you. See? Don't have Ember Celica on me. I actually want to thank you."

Huh? Thank me? Oookay, that's not what I was expecting.

"Thank me...for what?" I asked, a little hesitantly.

"Why, for being there for Ruby! When she was little, our mother used to comfort her whenever there was a storm. She'd hold her close, stroke her hair, and ease her to sleep. So, when I found out that you did that for Ruby, I couldn't get mad at you. I mean, it's not like you were TRYING to take advantage of her...right?"

She added that last bit with red eyes, and I quickly scrambled to assure her that it WASN'T my intention.

"What? No! Of course not! I didn't even initiate it! She tackled me and asked if she could stay that way! I had absolutely no intentions of doing anything to her other than return her to you!"

I spoke quickly and frantically, lest I incur the blond brawler's wrath. Yang laughed again, and grabbed me by my arm, yanking me up.

"Geez, I'm only joking! Man, you get worked up easily, it's actually pretty funny!"

She still had a grip on my arm as she looked me straight in my eyes, dead serious.

"But seriously, thanks for helping my baby sister. It means more than you think."

"Uh, no problem? I'm always happy to help, I guess."

Yang's smile returned, and she finally let go of my arm. Tossing her hair back, she walked away, stopping only for a second as she turned to me with what could be described as a feral smile on her face.

"Always happy to help, eh? Well, keep it up, and maybe I'll let you cuddle with **me.** "

I'm not sure if I paled or blushed profusely as she left with those words. With Yang, that was either a joke, a threat, or she was being completely serious. You can never tell with her.

Glancing at my scroll, my eyes widened when I realized, with horror, that I was about to be late for Professor Goodwitch's class. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I ran as fast as I could to get there in time.

* * *

I'm not good with classes, or homework. That would be normal for a teenager attending any school, but here at Beacon, classes are a team effort. They were set around the clock that, if your team was diligent, at least one or two of your teammates would be in your next class before you, so anything you missed out could be worked on together.

For someone like me who has no team, that doesn't work out, and I tend to always end up late. I'm lucky enough, for the most part, to be able to enter quietly, with no attention drawn to myself. That is not the case with Professor Glynda Goodwitch's classes.

"Late again, I see." her voice cut through me, laced with disappointment, instantly putting me on the spot in front of everyone.

"Well, go take your seat. I was just in the middle of discussing the practicalities of using Dust during combat. You will just have to make up for lost time later."

I resisted the urge to sigh, and instead simply nodded, before retreating to my usual spot, not entirely in the back, as there were two rows behind me, but in a small seat by the wall. The way this particular spot was angled, it literally dipped, so those sitting above and behind me didn't notice me, and there weren't many students next to me.

As Professor Goodwitch went on, I found it increasingly difficult to follow what she was saying, having missed out on the first half of the lecture already. That and I just didn't get Dust. At best, I knew that it exploded under any pressure or stress, and that was good enough for me. Lob a few suckers at Grimm like bombs, and call it a day!

As she continued, I caught a glance of Team RWBY out of the corner of my eye. Yang wasn't paying attention, fittingly enough, Blake looked like she was listening, and Weiss had Ruby taking notes furiously. What an odd pairing, those two. The uptight Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company and line, and a fifteen year old little girl who's so innocent and carefree that I think if she touched a Beowulf, the sucker would dissipate right then and there.

It was a wonder they got along. For the most part. My eyes drew back to the front of class, and I absentmindedly reached up and rubbed my right temple, as my vision unfocused. I did that often when lost in thought, or when I lost my thoughts. I truly couldn't follow Professor Goodwitch's class this time.

Eventually, the bell rang, signaling that class was finally over.

"I want to remind you all once more that with the Vytal Festival approaching, it's important that you finish all your work early before first term ends. Remember, you are representing Beacon in everything you do, so do try to stay on top of things, and don't get out of control."

Her eyes flickered over Jaune Arc, who was sitting in the front row with his partner, and then over myself as she said that. At that, I felt my self-esteem drop lower. Let's just be clear here, no one likes to hear about how "average" they are, and when you don't have a team, it hits that much more.

As I was contemplating this line of thought, I turned and saw Team RWBY in the middle of a discussion. I briefly wondered what they were talking about before shrugging to myself and stood up, ready to leave. Apparently, this caught their attention, as they gestured towards me, and Weiss seemed to sigh and cave in, before making her way towards me.

 _OK, that's new._ I thought as she made her way over to where I stood.

"Hi Weiss. What's up?"

She stood in front of me, and seemed to be having some internal debate with herself, before finally speaking up, not quite meeting my eye.

"Team RWBY decided that, to thank you for finding and helping Ruby out that day, we would help you with your classes."

"Wait, really?" I asked, in surprise. Maybe, just maybe, I might actually get some work done on time!

"Well, you don't have a team, and it wouldn't be right to let you struggle to keep up with everyone else on your own. Judging from your grades, you're struggling the most with Dust, am I correct?"

I nodded, and she sighed.

"In that case, I'll be helping you. Meet me in one of the study classrooms later today at five, and we'll begin."

"Thanks Weiss." I said with a smile, meaning it.

* * *

"-and Dust can be combined artificially to make different types with different effects."

I listened attentively, and took notes. I kept my questions brief, and straight to the point. It was surprisingly easy, but then again, Weiss was good at explaining it. The pamphlet helped too, despite its somewhat...questionable name.

It'd been a full week since she started helping me, and I was making good progress in understanding how Dust worked. She had blanched pretty badly when I made it known that the most I knew about it was that it was highly volatile and had different effects.

I couldn't help but smile at the conversation we had as she briefly stopped to take a call from Ruby.

 _"What do you mean that's all you know about it?!" She had yelled in shock, and I just shrugged apologetically._

 _"That's just it. Back home, I wasn't taught all this, I can't help it."_

 _"Then how did you get into Beacon?!"_

 _"Well, like everyone else."_

 _Weiss sighed and shook her head._

 _"Unbelievable. Tell me, what do you know of Dust, exactly, in detail."_

 _I thought about this for a bit, going through all I had tried to learn. In the end, it wasn't much._

 _"Besides it being highly volatile, not much else. I'm aware of Dust Crystals, I know there's the four main elements, but that's about it. Honestly, I say lob a few suckers at Grimm like bombs, and call it a day!"_

I chuckled at the memory, and her face at that time.

"What's so funny?"

I was shaken out of my thoughts by Weiss, who was standing there, one eyebrow raised, and I shook my head.

"I was just thinking about the start of the week. You've really helped me out here. I've learned a lot and I'm grateful to you, and your team for helping me out."

Weiss' expression softened and she smiled in return, before turning back to her notes. I found myself staring at her subconsciously. More specifically, at the scar over her left eye. I could only imagine how someone like Weiss Schnee got a scar like that.

I must have spaced out while thinking, because her fingers were suddenly in front of my face, snapping, and I jumped, startled.

"Sorry!" I yelped, and Weiss huffed, crossing her arms.

"Mind explaining why you were staring at me for the past few minutes? Actually, don't answer that, I don't think I want to know."

Great, she thought I was crushing on her, which was most certainly not my intent. I quickly racked my brain for an answer, and it came easily.

"Actually, I was wondering how someone like you got that scar. I don't mean to offend you with that remark, but you're Weiss Schnee, it's hard imagining you taking a hit that bad."

Weiss blinked, and slowly touched the scar over her eye, her expression one I couldn't read, and I realized that it was a way more touching subject than I had thought.

"Er, sorry Weiss. I shouldn't have asked."

Her eyes snapped back to me, and then drifted towards my right temple. Slowly, she walked around me, and looked straight at it.

"How did you get that scar?" she asked quietly.

As yes, my scar. Specifically the ugly jagged one that ran from my temple down to the middle of my jaw. It wasn't that noticeable, at least to me. But then again, I've probably gotten used to the stupid thing. But I digress.

I grew confused with Weiss' actions, and leaned away from her. This was really out of character for her. Honestly, I thought she'd snap at me for asking, and let's not even take into account her actually touching me like that!

"Hey now," I said cautiously, smiling weakly, "I asked you first. Don't go putting me on the spot."

That seemed to do the trick, for Weiss huffed once more, her attitude returning to normal. She walked in front of me and stared down at me, arms crossed once more.

"Hmph, fine, if you're going to be that way, how about this; we tell each other how we got our scars. I'm not going to tell you about my secret if you're the only one who gets something out of it."

OK, now I was confused. Why on Remnant did she want to know about my scar? I'm nothing special, just an average guy. I was only curious because she's Weiss Schnee! There shouldn't be many things that could permanently scar her!

I sighed and decided to voice my reasoning to her, hoping to just drop the subject.

"Look, I only asked because I was honestly surprised that something could actually scar you, with how skilled you are. I didn't mean to pry. And why would you want to know about this thing here anyway? Wouldn't any normal Huntsman-in-training have at least a few scars? Have you seen that second year, Fox Alistair? He's full of them!"

Her answer was something I wasn't expecting.

"I asked for two reasons; One, you asked me first, and I'm not going to indulge a secret like that unless I get something in return. Two, I've seen you fight. You're not just 'average', unless you're going to tell me you slipped on a rock or something equally stupid."

A retort was on the tip of my tongue, but it died down. She was right, it wasn't fair of me to ask her about something that sensitive, not unless I was willing to tell her something in return. I was hesitant to tell her how I got my own scar, and I honestly didn't think she was the sympathetic type. In the end, I decided not to. A secret isn't worth anything if you get someone to tell you, even for the price of another secret.

"Fine, you made a fair point. I apologize for asking you about it, I won't bring it up again." Without meaning to, I reached up to my temple to touch the scar she was referring to, and turned away from her. Dammit, now **I** was getting melancholic. Thanks Weiss!

I could feel her gaze still on me, then I heard her sigh, and sit down behind me, our backs touching. I froze, but didn't dare turn around.

"...I wanted to attend Beacon, instead of Atlas. My father was against it, but he had no time to deal with the aspirations of his own daughter, so he left that to his secretary. That woman pit me up against a Grimm in a fight. I was able to defeat it, but I got this scar as a result. Because of it though, I was able to win my way to Beacon. This scar represents what I went through to earn my freedom. It separates me from just being _"Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company"_. It's proof of what I went through."

I sat in a stunned silence as Weiss finished. She had just revealed something personal, even after I had refused to go along with her deal. But it was how she spoke of her father that got my attention, and I realized that Weiss was nothing like I imagined her. There was far more to her than she let on. Feeling ashamed for my earlier thoughts, I sighed and mentally braced myself.

"I...didn't exactly have the best childhood growing up. My mother was never home, always in Atlas working. Hilariously enough, she works for your father's company. Small world, huh," I said with a bitter laugh, and continued, "That just left me with my father. He was once a Huntsman, but he received a wound in battle one day that cost him his career. While he was paid for generously, and was even honored for his hard work, it wasn't easy for him to lose the one thing he was passionate about. To make things worse, he was the only one around to take care of me, and it eventually took its toll on him. He took to drinking."

I shuddered at the memory, but the words kept coming out now.

"I wasn't a calm kid back then. I must have caused him a lot of trouble, and I was unable to see him suffering. One day, he was really drunk, and as usual, I was racing around the house. I knocked a vase over and it shattered. My father loved that vase, it had been a gift from a village he had saved early in his career. To say he was furious would be an understatement. He took his beer bottle and...well, you can probably already guess what happened from there. He was torn up about it, and still feels guilt over it, but it's been awkward between us ever since that happened."

I fell silent, regretting ever having asked about her scar. Talking about my father did not help ease the pain, all it did was remind me of how stupid I was back then, and all the regret from that day come flooding back. We both just sat there in silence. Finally, Weiss spoke.

"I'm sorry to hear that. You may find this hard to believe, but I understand a little of what you went through. My family went through some tough times, and my father would always come home in a bad mood, and it made for a very difficult childhood."

More silence. I felt Weiss lean back, and her head settle between my shoulder blades, against my neck. A question lingered in the back of my mind, and I decided to test the waters.

"You were pretty lonely back then, weren't you?" I asked, and didn't get a response, so I kept going, "I understand how that feels. Heh, who would have thought that I'd end up attending Beacon without a team or partner? I'm not going to lie and say I'm not jealous of everyone else. I am. Honestly, it hurts a little, every time the professors give out team assignments. I get stuck doing something else entirely, because I'm too much of an average loser to keep up with everyone else."

I looked up at the clock and realized it was late. Shaking my head, I went to stand up, but Weiss' hand reached out and grabbed me by my elbow. Confused, I turned to look at her, and saw that she was looking pointedly at the ground.

She mumbled something, and I had to lean down to her level to hear her.

"You don't have to leave yet. I know it hurts you to be in that empty dorm alone..."

I couldn't find anything to say, so I dumbly sat down beside her, looking at a wall. Time passed, and I began to get tired.

"Weiss, we should head to our dorms. It's late, and I'm tired, and I'm sure you are too. So-"

I didn't get to finish. In a sudden move, Weiss pulled me down and wrapped her arms around my chest, laying her head on it. I'm sure I was beet red, and I tried to move, but her grip on me was too tight.

"Weiss?!" I squeaked out, and she just shushed me.

"You're not alone. You've got friends you can talk to, and ask for help. If another team assignment comes up, ask us for help. I'm sure Ruby would be happy to help someone, and I know Blake and Yang won't mind. But for now, let me stay like this for a while. I understand how you feel."

I was still unsure of what to do. This was highly out of character for Weiss, but then again, didn't I realize that there was more to her than I had first thought? I tentatively put an arm around her shoulders, and she moved in closer to me.

"But if you ever mention this to anyone, I will freeze you to the ceiling and leave you there, understand?" Her muffled voice threatened from my chest. I chuckled weakly, knowing full well that she meant it.

"You have a strong heartbeat." she said absentmindedly, and I only half-registered what she said, falling fast asleep myself.

"Weiss?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you."

* * *

 **Prompt;** _**"Weiss wraps herself around you, drifting off to sleep to your heartbeat"**_

 **Thoughts;** _Agh, sorry for how OOC Weiss was, everyone, as well as how un-funny this chapter was. I tried so hard to make it work, but I couldn't, and wound up re-writing this three separate times before giving up and going with this version. Of course, I couldn't find a way to do that without making her a too OOC, so this is what I went with. It was the best I could do._

 ** _10/29/2016:_** _Changed up some dialogue, changed the OC's backstory slightly, and made it just a bit less "edgy". Still not entirely satisfied, but I don't feel like rewriting the whole chapter. Maybe some day, though._


	3. Her Secret Shared

**Chapter Three**

* * *

After that night with Weiss, I felt a literal load lift off my shoulders. Probably because, true to her word, Team RWBY actually came to me and offered to help me, with much squirming and hiding in her cloak from Ruby, refusing to meet my eyes. She was probably still embarrassed about what happened the night when I found her.

Which is why I found myself in the library, studying with them and Team JNPR. I'll be honest, it felt pretty damn good to actually be able to feel like I was on a team, or at least work with a team.

"So," Yang spoke up, leaning forward with a devilish grin on her face, "Weiss, why didn't you come back to the room last night?"

Crap, I forgot about that. When I had woken up that morning, Weiss was still wrapped around me, her face in my chest. I had gently, but urgently, woken her up and we both parted faster than two magnets repelling each other. I kept my face impassive as I continued on my work, letting Weiss handle it.

"I was simply helping this dolt here," she jerked her thumb at me, "With his work, nothing more, nothing less. He was further behind than I had anticipated, so it took all night getting him to catch up."

Great, and now she made me look like an idiot who didn't know what he was doing. Fan-TASTIC. But if Yang knew what had happened, she'd never let either of us hear the end of it. Plus, I wasn't going to let anyone know what happened either. Weiss isn't one for shows of comfort or affection like that, and I'm not going to be the one to ruin her image.

Sensing eyes on me, I looked up to realize that EVERYONE was looking at me. I casually shrugged, hoping that they believed me.

"What? It's as she says, we were both up all night trying to cram as much information into my stupid head as possible before the night was over. Blame me for holding her up, I'm a slow learner."

And now I was making myself look dumb too. Oh goody. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Weiss concentrating rather intensely on the book before her, pen gripped tightly. Uh, OK? At least that seemed to satisfy the others, all except for Yang who was still suspicious.

Finished with my work, I lean back and stretch, feeling my bones pop. The others began to put their books and papers away too, when we heard a commotion nearby. An irritatingly familiar laugh rang out, and I felt my good mood evaporate quickly.

Looking around the corner, we beheld the sight of resident jerk Cardin Winchester and his goons, harassing a female rabbit Faunus I'd seen around. While they weren't pulling on her ears, they were pointing at her and laughing, mocking her by using their fingers on their heads to imitate her.

Now, I am not one for discrimination. It's one of the top two things I despise the most out of Humanity, the first being abusive parents. And while I watched the scene before me, I felt my stomach churn and grow hot.

"Absolutely atrocious," Pyrrha mumbled, glaring daggers at Cardin. The others shared her sentiments, but it was Blake's reaction that wound up attracting my attention. She too was glaring at Cardin, but it was deeper than the others', more personal, and I swear I saw her bow twitch.

"Cardin..." Ruby growled, small hands curled into fists.

"Isn't that the guy who's been bullying Jaune lately?" I asked, and Pyrrha nodded, while Jaune tried to quietly laugh it off and claim he wasn't.

"He's also bullied that girl," Yang spoke up, eyes red, "Someone should do something about him."

The others nodded or hummed in agreement, and I sighed. Well, if someone had to do it, it might as well be me. I stepped out and begin making my way over to Cardin and his lackeys. I think one of the others might have said something, but I didn't catch it.

"CARDIN WINCHESTER," I said loudly, making his teammates jump. He turned around and I glared at him.

"Leave that girl alone right now," I growled. Oh, how badly I wanted to hit him, or do something to hurt him. But he was a lot taller than me, stronger than I was, and probably tougher too. While I would have liked to hurt him, it'd probably just cause an unnecessary fight that I would have lost.

"What, you're standing up for this animal?" he asked with a laugh. I got in his face at that. He may be taller than me, but if there's one thing bullies are wary of, it's someone who doesn't back down and shows no fear. Well, sometimes, anyway.

"Yeah, actually, I am. In fact, I'm more fond of Faunus than I am of Humans. Now, I wonder why that is?" I snarled, making him take a step back, "Now, you're going to leave her alone, or I'll happily get Professor Goodwitch over here, and see what she thinks of your little display."

"What, not man enough to fight me on your own" he asked, evidently regaining some of his courage, "Have to go run and hide behind the teachers?"

I said nothing and continued to glare at him without blinking, all the while hoping he didn't decide to plow his fist in my face. That would have been one battle I probably wouldn't win. Fortunately, he apparently had enough, for he looked away and walked off.

"Tch, I was getting bored anyway. Later, freak! Enjoy your new **mate** ," He called over his shoulder, and I rolled my eyes. Was that really the best he could come up with? I took a deep breath and sighed, all adrenaline gone, and turned to the girl.

"Are you alright?" I asked gently. She meekly nodded, and I sat across from her.

"If they bother you again, why not come to us?" I asked, gesturing towards Teams RWBY and JNPR, who were still hanging out from behind a bookcase, watching the event, "We'll help you out if you need it."

She finally smiled and nodded.

"Thank you, I will."

I stood up to leave, before turning back to her.

"Oh, by the way, my name is-"

"Oh, I know who you are." she said with a giggle, "You're beginning to get a little popular."

"Wait, I am?" I asked, a bit of dread growing inside me. What did I do lately to warrant attention?

"Well, you were spotted asleep next to Ruby Rose two weeks ago in the school's smithy, and a student claims to have seen you and Weiss Schnee asleep together on the floor of a classroom last night."

I paled significantly, and didn't **dare** turn back to RWBY and JNPR. Already I could feel their eyes burning holes into my body, along with the predatory smirk that I just knew Yang was undoubtedly sporting. Worst of all, I was afraid to see Weiss' expression. I felt rather than saw them sink back behind the bookcase.

"Ah. Well, they ARE called rumors for a reason, you know. I can assure you, I would not sleep with Ruby as she's only fifteen, and I wouldn't survive to see another day. There's also no way in Hell it'd happen with Weiss either."

"Yeah, I figured as much. I mean, you don't seem like that kind of guy, and I can't imagine Ruby or Weiss doing that either. By the way, I'm Velvet. Velvet Scarlatina."

I chatted with Velvet a bit more, then slunk off, trying to keep out of sight of a certain boisterous blond. Unfortunately, it seemed that the day was going to be one of THOSE days, as I felt a hand grab onto my shoulder like an iron vice.

Slowly turning my head around, I found myself looking into the eyes of said blond, with a cheshire cat grin on her face. Before I could say anything, she roughly dragged me off down the hallway, and into Team RWBY's room where the other three were gathered.

Yang plopped me unceremoniously down next to Weiss, who was sitting on the flood, hands on her knees, legs tucked under them, and stood in front of us next to Ruby and Blake.

"So!" She said, that smile still on her face, "You two were up all night studying, eh? Trying to cram as much information into his head as possible, eh? Or was it something **else** that was being crammed into someone?"

"YANG!" Weiss yelled, her face turning as red as Ruby's cloak, "It was NOT like that!"

"She's on the defensive." Blake whispered loudly to Yang, while smirking.

"I have to hand it to you, Ice Queen, I didn't think he was your type. And out of all the places to do it, in a classroom no less!"

She then turned to me.

"So, how was she? Did she scream? Was she dominant or submissive? No wait, I bet she was dominant! Was it hard, getting in ther-"

"EXCUSE ME?!" I shrilled, "Yang, are you even supposed to be talking like that in front of Ruby?!"

"Hey," The little reaper cried out in indignation, "I may be fifteen, but that doesn't mean I'm naive! I'm well aware of what goes on between a man and woman! I know what sex is!"

I just stared at her, mouth agape, trying to process the fact that Ruby just said the word sex, before groaning and burying my face into my palm. Sighing, I explained, not even bothering to look up.

"Look, Weiss and I did not have sex. There is no way on Remnant I would take advantage of her like that. When I said we were studying, I meant it. But near the end, something came up and she became melancholic, so I comforted her, and that's all that happened. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Really?" Yang pressed, but her tone made her disappointment clear.

"Yes, Yang, really. Nothing romantic happened. We're here to train to become Huntsmen and Huntresses, there is no room for love." I sighed, hoping that would be the final nail in this ridiculous scene's coffin. I turned to Weiss for support, and noticed the slightly downcast expression on her face, which was confusing.

Turning back to the other three, I noticed the same expression on Ruby's face too. OK, what was up with those two? Ruby's expression I could chalk up to possible disappointment that the rumor was false, but what was up with Weiss?

In the back of my mind, there was a small voice pointing out that their expressions fell after my comment that there was no room for love here, but I pointedly ignored it. Lord knows I don't need to be confusing the situation as it is. Plus I didn't dare pursue that line of thought. That path led to the dark side, and I liked living.

"I have a question," Blake spoke up, jarring me out of my thoughts as Weiss walked over to her bed and sat on it. I decided to stay on the floor, and instead crossed my legs.

"What is it?"

"It's about what you said to Velvet earlier." Blake said, shuffling in place, "You said you preferred Faunus over Humans. Is that true?"

 _Oh. Oh crap._

It had only now occurred to me just how bad that sounded, and I quickly spoke up to correct myself.

"That's not exactly how I meant it! I'm not being racist, I promise! What I meant was, it was people like Cardin that made me prefer Faunus over Humans! I don't hate you girls, or everyone in general. But if I had to choose between a city of people who discriminated against Faunus, or spend my life with one Faunus out in the middle of nowhere, I'd choose the latter.

One of the things I hate the most is discrimination. My aunt's a Faunus, as is my cousin, and I've seen them get harassed just because they were born Faunus. Whenever I see a Faunus being harassed, it brings back bad memories."

"Wait, your aunt and cousin are Faunus?" Blake asked in surprise, and I nodded.

"Yeah. My family's pretty much in love with the Faunus. My grandparents were a Human and a Faunus, and through them we've got my mother, who's a Human, and my aunt, who's a Faunus. She found a guy, Human, who accepted her and their daughter, my cousin, is a Faunus."

"Wow, I've never heard of a family like that." Ruby said in awe, and I merely shrugged.

"Look hard enough and you'll find them. I come from an old family, so it's to be expected. This little tradition, if you want to call it that, has continued for generations. We've always been strong supporters of Faunus rights."

"That's pretty amazing," Yang admitted, "What kind of Faunus is your aunt and cousin?"

"My aunt's a Cat Faunus, as is my cousin. She has these two adorable red kitty ears. Whenever the family gets together, all of the younger cousins want to pet them, it's really funny. She's incredibly patient with them too."

I proceeded to describe my family to the girls, making sure to keep certain parts, things I had only discussed with Weiss, secret. They asked questions and I answered them. Blake, however, was strangely quiet all throughout, and kept shooting glances at me thoughtfully.

* * *

Days passed without too much happening. Surprisingly enough, during our trip to the Forever Fall forest, Jaune apparently saved Cardin from an Ursa, in which the boy finally stopped bullying him. Things got quiet after that, which everyone was thankful for, and with RWBY and JNPR's help, my grades improved.

In return, I offered to help them should they ever need it. For now, I'd been delegated to helping JNPR the most, mostly helping Ren keep Nora in line, or Pyrrha helping train Jaune. He'd been improving lately, but still seemed to be behind others in skill, but was quickly catching up.

One day Team RWBY came up to me while I was sketching in the library, Ruby and Yang looking worried, and I noticed the lack of Blake among them.

"What's wrong?" I asked, even though it was clear what was bothering them.

"Have you seen Blake today?" Ruby asked me, and I shook my head.

"Sorry, I haven't seen her since a few days ago, back in your room. Something happen?"

"Just a small argument, nothing major." Yang quickly interjected, with a warning look to Weiss, who simply rolled her eyes and looked away, arms crossed.

"If you see her, could you please let us know?" Ruby begged me, and I readily agreed, and they left. It was odd, that they would end up in an argument, and something told me that it was between Weiss and Blake. Just the way Weiss was acting almost confirmed my suspicions, but nothing concrete.

Deciding I'd help out in the search, I packed up my notepad and headed out. After asking a few students, I learned that Blake had left for town. While it was a lead, it wasn't anything big, as "in town" could literally be anywhere, so I decided to head there on my own.

Once I got into town, it was a simple matter of just asking around. While on the ride there, I had drawn a sketch of what Blake looked like, and used it to help get answers. Few people saw her, though they said she was with another guy, a monkey Faunus.

While this would satisfy anyone, especially Yang, it didn't sit well with me. Why would Blake hide from her team for a full day without any contact? If they had an argument, and she was still keeping away, then something serious happened.

"Alright, think. Where would Blake go?" I said to myself, sitting on a bench in the park. Bookstores would be too easy, especially if she didn't want to be found. What else did she like doing?

 _Reading._

 _Being alone._

 _Reading._

 _Not talking._

 _Eating tuna, oddly enough, but hey, I'm not one to judge._

 _Drinking tea..._

Wait, that's it! I quickly jumped up from the bench and pulled out my scroll, and did a quick search on the CCT's net. There were about four cafes in town, three which were moderately cheap for a student, one that was highly expensive. Two of them were nearby, so I decided to start my search there.

A quick jog took me to both, and I struck out, but I expected that. I had a feeling I knew where she was, but I wanted to check the others first. The third cheap one was on the other side of town, but the nice one was just down the road. I was positive I'd find her there.

Upon reaching it, I was completely out of breath. There was a reason I preferred to save my energy for battle, and didn't run all around town interrogating the locals. But my hunch had paid off. There, on the upper deck, was Blake. True to what I learned, she was with another boy, a blond monkey Faunus with a serious wardrobe issue.

They seemed to be talking. Well, he was talking and she was just staring at him, not saying one word. I quickly entered the cafe and headed up the stairs, entering the second deck where they sat. The surprise on both their faces would have been hilarious to memorize and sketch later, but I was too busy panting to bother.

"W-wait...one...s-second." I wheezed, holding up a hand to stall anything that might have been said. I probably looked like a wreck, sweating heavily and looking like I ran all the way from Beacon to town, which would have been only half accurate.

Taking a minute to calm down, I sat on a chair at a table next to theirs.

"Hey Blake. Could we talk for a minute? It won't be long, I promise, and I'm not here to drag you back to Beacon. I just want to understand the situation, and maybe help if possible."

"Good luck there," the boy said, attracting my attention, "It's been a full day and she's barely said a word to me. Just one word answers or muffled noises."

"Sure." Blake said, standing up and heading inside, leaving the boy's mouth was hanging open. I nodded sympathetically as I went.

"Give her time, she'll talk to you." I said before I went in.

* * *

"So, what did you want to talk about?" She asked me, and I took a minute to collect my thoughts. I considered Team RWBY my friends, or at least liked to think that. I honestly didn't do too much with them besides study, and occasionally hang out with them on a good day, so I couldn't be presumptuous enough to think that I was entitled to be involved in their arguments.

"Well," I began carefully, "Your teammates came to me, asking if I'd seen you. Yang said that you had an argument, nothing major, but I wasn't entirely sure. I mean, keeping out of contact with your team for a full day screams major. Then again, I'm not the expert on how a team works.

Look, my point is, they're worried for you, and I got worried. If anything happened and you want someone to talk to, I'm willing to lend an ear, and you know I won't judge you for it."

Blake regarded me for a moment, and I could tell she was silently debating on what to do. She sighed and pushed herself off the wall she had been leaning on.

"Look, that's sweet of you, but it's nothing too big. Weiss and I got into an argument, and I just need some time to cool off. I need some time alone."

Looking into her eyes as she stared at me steadily, I realized I wouldn't be able to convince her to talk to me, so I just nodded.

"Alright, I'll take your word for it. Just, don't stay away from them too long, OK? They're your friends, and they **are** worried about you. Friends will argue from time to time, views will be different. That's just how everyone's tailored, no two people are completely alike."

"Alright, I'll do that." She said with a small smile. I turned and started to leave, but she called out to me as I was almost out the door.

"Please don't tell them where I am. I want to have a bit more time to think, and clear my head."

I frowned. Ruby's face appeared in my mind, as did her words.

 _"If you see her, could you please let us know?"_

Turning, I saw Blake's face, and her expression. She was hesitant, and I realized she was fully expecting me to tell them anyway. I didn't like it. I really didn't like it. I knew it was wrong, and yet...

"Alright, I won't tell them you're here, or that I saw you."

She blinked in surprise, and then smiled, and I returned one of my own, albeit weakly.

 _I'm the worst._

* * *

When I returned to Beacon, I did my best to avoid Ruby, but to no avail. For some reason, the girl knew just when to pop up at either the best, or worst, of times, and sadly this time it was when I had just entered the building from the courtyard.

I held up my hand to stall her parade of questions.

"No, I didn't find Blake, I'm sorry. I was out all day looking and asking around, no luck."

Ruby's face was so crestfallen that it literally hurt my heart to see her like that. I almost caved in, but instead I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey now, don't give up. Why don't you take Yang and Weiss and head into town tomorrow. Maybe you'll have better luck than I did. A few people said they saw her, but I wasn't able to find anything on my own."

After Ruby cheered up just the slightest, I dragged myself back to my small dorm room, and collapsed onto my bed. I felt like garbage. I really hated hiding the fact that I saw Blake and even chatted with her from Ruby, but I also knew that Blake wasn't ready to see them yet.

The fact that I had effectively gone behind both their backs left a bad taste in my mouth. First I lied to Ruby about finding Blake, than I turned around and gave her a hint on where to go to look, knowing there was a very real possibility that they'd find her. I was the worst.

 _'Eh, screw it.'_ I thought, and passed out. I would bear the brunt of their anger later, and I'd explain why I did it then. For now, I just wanted some sleep.

* * *

Two days passed, and Blake had returned to Beacon. She and the other three of RWBY looked a little haggard, but they also seemed closer than they were before. Well, that's what fights did: They either tore people apart permanently or brought them closer together. I'm just glad it was the latter and not the former.

I wanted to ask just what they had fought about, but it was far from my place to do so, so I kept quiet.

Later that night, I found myself lounging on a couch in the library, working on a new sketch. Call me crazy, but after seeing Team RWBY back together again, I felt compelled to do a drawing of them together. It was nearing 2:30 AM and I was pretty tired. I took a final look at my drawing.

In it, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake were all held firmly together by Yang in one of her infamous group hugs. Weiss had a strained look, while Ruby was smiling and Blake was trying not to smile, and failing. Even Weiss' expression was more lighthearted.

I felt it captured their dynamics pretty well. They were a strong team, and were getting closer together each day. Satisfied, I allowed myself to nod off, sketch still on my lap.

I awoke a short time later to a presence next to me, and a slight pain in my left ear. It was dark, with the lamp I had on turned off. After struggling a bit to fully wake up, I glanced to my side. Someone was lying there next to me, curled up in a ball, far too close for my comfort, especially since it was a couch we were on. There was just barely enough room for myself and my sudden companion.

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I felt them widen. The person laying next to me was none other than Blake herself. She was asleep, occasionally nibbling on my ear, and... _purring_?

Yep, she was definitely purring, and my mind was racing at speeds that rivaled Ruby's own. Why was she here? Why was she sleeping next to me? And WHY was she purring? It wasn't even the same type of purr Yang would make when she was eyeing up a guy she liked the looks of. It was more like...

More like a cat's purr. More like the sound my cousin made when she was happy.

 _Aw crap._

Suddenly so many things about Blake made sense, things that were so much in common with my cousin that I felt like slapping myself. That is, if Blake wasn't clutching my arm so tightly that the blood was being cut off. Speaking of which...

"Blake!" I hissed, hoping to wake her, and hoping this wasn't my last act before she inexplicably offed me for being in such a compromising position with her.

"Blake, wake up! My arm! I can't feel my arm!"

Seriously, it was whiter than Weiss! Than _Weiss_!

Finally, she slowly opened her eyes, and stared at me, at first not understanding what was going on. I winced as she yawned, tightening her grip on my already sore arm. And there it went, all feeling gone, probably forever.

Her eyes widened as she finally realized what she was doing, and she leaped off the couch in a single bound, releasing my arm in the process. I gasped and clutched at it as the blood slowly returned, along with the VERY painful feeling to go with it.

"Good Lord, you've got a grip that can rival Yang's." I groaned, cradling my arm, which was completely limp. It was actually kind of terrifying, having your arm right there, still attached, but unable to feel it or move it. I glanced up at Blake to see her blushing and avoiding my eyes.

"So, what are you doing here?" I asked, trying to be casual about the fact that she had just been sleeping next to me, curled up in a ball while purring.

She sighed and, surprisingly, sat down next to me, holding of all things my sketch pad. She opened it and turned to the page I had just drawn, and stared at it with a bit of melancholy.

"I didn't know you were an artist." She said quietly, and I shrugged.

"No reason to bring it up."

"Well, you're very good at it." She murmured. Her eyes flickered over to me and back to the drawing. Silence stretched out between us, and I shifted uncomfortably. Finally, I decided to broach the subject that had been on my mind.

"Um, Blake? Why were you, ah, well..."

I gestured lamely, trying to get my point across, and it seemed to work, as the blush returned.

"Well, I came in here looking for a book, and I noticed you passed out, and saw your sketch book, and-"

I held up my hand, quieting her.

"Blake, that's not exactly what I meant. I'm just going to come out and say it."

I took a deep breath and took the plunge.

"Why were you sleeping next to me, clutching my arm like a vice?"

The blush intensified, and she stared pointedly at the floor.

"It wasn't like I did it entirely on purpose." She said quietly, "I did come in looking for a book, and I did end up seeing you sleeping. I looked through your sketchbook, and wound up falling asleep before I knew it. You just happened to be nearby."

I stared at her, not buying the story, not entirely. She was refusing to meet my eyes.

"And the purring?"

She froze, her blush fading away real fast. Looks like I hit the jackpot, but I wasn't even the least bit happy about it, not with the expression she had.

"Blake, look at me." I said gently, and she complied, "I don't know what you're hiding, and I'm not going to pry. It's not my place, and if you want to continue hiding it, that's fine. I do want you to know that you do share quite a few similarities with my cousin though."

Blake blinked in surprise, and stared at me as I yawned and moved to the floor.

"Well, I'm tired, so I'm going back to sleep. You can continue flipping through that if you want, but please slip it under the couch when you're done."

"Wait." She said, stopping me, and I looked up at her. She had a hold of her bow, and that look was back on her face, the same one I saw at the cafe. Internally debating on what she should do. She sighed, and removed her bow...

Revealing two cat ears, similar to my cousin's, but black.

"Well, there you have it." She said, smiling somewhat melancholic, "My secret. I'm a Faunus, hiding in plain view."

I stared at her ears as they twitched, and then smiled.

"They're adorable." I said, and this time, Blake smiled, sliding down on the floor to sit across from me.

"Somehow, I figured you'd say that," She said, "You probably don't realize it, but I was extremely surprised when you stood up for Velvet so strongly. Then when you talked about how your family are strong supporters of Faunus, I was extremely happy, especially when you talked about having Faunus as family. Not many people are like that."

"I can understand why you were quiet when the others pestered me with questions about my family though." I said, and she smiled, and sidled up to me, which did confuse me.

"You know, Ruby and Weiss both talked about how comforting you were to them those nights," She said quietly, and I began to get nervous, "It's not hard to see why now."

"Uhhh, right," I said, keeping an eye on her as she sat beside me, "Well, I should get back to my room, and I'm sure the others will wake up soon and wonder where you went."

I began to stand up to leave, but Blake reached out and grabbed my arm, pulling me back down. I looked at her in surprise and saw her cheeks were red.

"You laid there with Ruby and Weiss, right?" She asked me, and I paled.

 _Oh no, not this time, not again! I can't keep doing this, and Yang will **never** let me hear the end of it! **Ever**!_

"Uh, yeah, but Ruby's only fifteen, and they both initiated it to begin with-"

Blake's eyes sharpened at that, and I realized I messed up.

"So, they're the ones who started it, hm? You didn't offer to comfort them?"

"Uh, well, Ruby tackled me to the ground, and asked if we could stay that way, and Weiss wouldn't let me go, so..." I said, my mouth dry.

Blake smirked, and in one smooth motion dragged me to the floor as I yelped, grabbing me and curling back up in a ball next to me.

"B-Blake?" I stammered, and she didn't respond. She instead simply started purring again, and once again nibbled on my ear.

"Blake! Yang's going to find us like this! She's going to mock us endlessly!" I almost yelled, kicking my legs wildly.

Blake's smirk only got bigger.

* * *

 **Prompt;** _**"Blake curls up into a ball next to you, occasionally nibbling your ear and purring"**_ **  
**

 **Thoughts;** _We learn more about our unnamed OC, such as his family. Also, by show of hands, how many would love to have a Faunus family member? Don't lie to yourselves now!_

 **11/19/2016:** _Came back and reworked some dialogue during the scene with Cardin, made the OC less "badass" and more "I will bluff you and pray you don't punch me in the face, for that will hurt really badly and I will lose the fight." Also changed the date in the story so the library scene happened before Forever Fall. Gotta stop picking on Cardin and making him act like a bully after Jaune saved him._


	4. Marshmallow Hell, The Keyword Being HELL

**Chapter Four**

* * *

 _It's dark._

That was my first thought as I woke up and slowly opened my eyes. Someone was attached to my side, and all I saw was black. I blinked, and pulled my head back as far as I could, and found myself staring at Blake's hair.

I froze, and the events of last night came flooding back. Blake was still curled up by my side, hair splayed out in my face. Apparently, some time in the night, she had woken up and put her bow back on, because there it was, covering her ears. Hiding her heritage.

I tried to move away, but Blake's arms were around my neck and torso, and they tightened when I moved.

 _Great, I'm stuck and she's asleep. How could this get any worse?_

A click sounded somewhere above us, and I turned my head just enough to see Yang standing there, scroll in hand, having just taken a picture of us.

 _I just HAD to ask. Why do I do this to myself?  
_

I made to wake Blake up, or force myself away from her, but Yang stepped in, pushing me back down and putting a finger to her lips, grinning widely.

 _Aaaand she wants me to stay here. Terrific._

Blake shifted in her sleep, and bit down on my ear. **Hard**. I let out a silent yell of pain, though I'm sure my eyes were going ballistic. Yang stifled a laugh and was rapidly taking pictures. The noise finally woke Blake up, and the minute she realized the position we were in, as well as Yang being there, she shoved me away hard, backing away herself.

Yang broke out in laughter as I held my ear, wincing.

"Aww, you two looked SOOO cute!" She said, that damned smile still on her face. Blake promptly threw a cushion at her, then turned apologetically to me.

"I told you she'd never let us hear the end of it," I grumbled, still holding my ear, "Geez, you bite down hard. Do I really smell that much like tuna?"

Yang snorted and Blake tried hiding the smile that grew on her face. I took my hand away, and Yang approached, suddenly grabbing my head and tilting my ear upwards to her.

"Oooh, she got you GOOD." Yang chortled, and Blake wilted, while I flailed about, trying to get out of Yang's grasp.

"What do you mean by that? Yang, let me go! LET ME GO!"

Yang's response was to laugh and hold me tighter.

"She put a hole clean through your ear! All the way through! HAH, now you can get an ear piercing!"

"WHAT?!" I yelled, and Blake covered her face with her hands as Yang's laughter rang out in the empty library.

* * *

"I'm really sorry." Blake mumbled as I rubbed my ear, looking at Weiss' handheld mirror she loaned me. Yang had been right, there was indeed a nice sized hole in it from where Blake had bit me.

"It's alright," I sighed as I eyed the hole, "I don't blame you for it, nor will I hold you against it. Honestly, I'm surprised. The hole is literally the perfect size of a piercing. It's almost amazing. In fact, I'm probably going to get a piercing to cover it up. You can help me pick it out."

I turned to Blake and grinned, and she slowly smiled. We were in Team RWBY's room, waiting for Yang to return with Ruby. We figured we might as well wait in the room, as we just knew that Yang was going to show Ruby and Weiss the pictures she had taken, and they'd grill us for answers. Might as well make it easy on ourselves.

"I still can't believe you two!" Weiss huffed from her bed, and Blake smirked from where she sat on her own bed.

"Jealous, Weiss?" She said, causing the other girl to splutter.

"Of course I'm not jealous! You two were in the library, sleeping together! You could have been caught by a teacher! You're lucky Yang was the one who saw you first and no one else!"

"Why would she be jealous?" I piped up from where I sat, but I was ignored, with Blake raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms, mimicking Weiss' oft used expression.

"Oh? What about when you and him were sleeping in a classroom? A teacher could have found you even quicker there. Oh, and from what I heard, **you** grabbed **him**. You're the one who initiated it, he didn't comfort you first."

Ugh, and there she went. While Weiss tried making an excuse, I felt her glare burning through me, and I turned sheepishly.

"Sorry Weiss. When I tried arguing about what a bad idea it was, I accidentally said that you and Ruby were the ones who grabbed me first."

"Wait, Ruby was the one who asked you to sleep with her first?!" Weiss said in shock, and I slammed my head into the desk.

"NO, Weiss. Ugh, I tried getting Ruby out of the smithy's forge, and she tackled me to the ground using her Semblance and held onto me. The wind was knocked out of me, and she asked if we could stay that way, then explained to me that her mother used to comfort her during a storm. That's what I did."

"What about the Ice Queen?" Yang's voice suddenly spoke up as she and Ruby entered the room, the younger girl blushing hard and hiding under her hood.

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, then looked at Weiss. She groaned and put her face into her palm.

"Fine, **I'll** tell them. I'm the one who kept him that night, OK? I grabbed him, dragged to the floor, and held onto him! Happy now?"

The room went silent, and I slumped down to the floor, shaking my head. The other three girls stared at Weiss in shock, and awe.

"You went a little overboard there, Weiss." I sighed.

"Whoa. Ice Queen, I did not expect you to be so...assertive." Yang said slowly. Blake nodded in agreement and Ruby just stared at her.

Weiss turned red at the realization of how she made it sound, and I sighed again. Seems I did that a lot when I was around them.

"Look, girls, this is what happened; Weiss and I were talking about some heavy topics, and both of us were feeling melancholic. I was putting myself down due to the fact that I don't have a partner or team, and Weiss decided to prove me wrong about being alone, albeit a bit more forcibly than normal. That's all. Nothing explicit happened."

Now their attention was turned on me, and Yang cooed.

"Aww, that's so sweet!"

Ruby darted over to me in a flash, surprising me and knocking me over, hugging me tightly.

"It's OK, you can be part of Team RWBY!"

I chuckled and patted the girl's head as the other three smiled.

"Thanks Ruby, but I doubt Ozpin, or Professor Goodwitch for that matter, would allow a team to have five members. Plus I'd ruin the name."

Ruby frowned, than cheered up, exclaiming with excitement; "Then you can be an unofficial member of Team RWBY! You can provide a guy's input!"

The room burst into laughter at that, and thoughts of earlier fled from our minds. At least, it did for a short time. Unfortunately, I underestimated Yang. Badly.

* * *

The following days were a bit odd. OK, scratch that, extremely odd. Blake started opening up to me more, actively seeking me out to talk with me, and wanting to see any new sketches I might have done, or showing me books she had finished reading. I guess she was happy to have someone who understood her as a Faunus, and shared her interests.

She'd often ask about my cousin, and I was all too happy to oblige. But it didn't stop there. How I wish it had.

Ruby started coming to me more often as well. She was constantly hanging around me, trying to sew roses onto my uniform, or constantly trying to get me to upgrade my weapon, which wasn't exactly possible. She felt my weapon was in need of a flamethrower.

And THEN, as if things weren't already too much, Weiss decided by herself that I was in need of more tutoring on various topics that I didn't even understand! I'd be sitting around, sketching, and she'd just wander in with a thick binder chalk full of all sorts of topics. She'd then drag me off to a classroom to study.

But by far the worst was Yang herself. She didn't do ANYTHING while all this was going on. No, she'd just stand around, that big ass grin on her face the whole time, and watch as her teammates hassled me, but she never ONCE did anything to me.

That worried me the most. So by the end of the week, I was a paranoid wreck, tired from everything the girls put me through, and constantly waiting for Yang to do SOMETHING. Evidently, I didn't have to wait long.

It was lunchtime, and Teams RWBY and JNPR were sitting at two different tables sat across from each other. Nora kept catapulting food to Yang, who kept catching them in mid-air with her mouth while the rest of JNPR watched on. I was sitting off by myself, happy for the lack of attention for once.

"-with a YANG." Yang just finished a bad pun, receiving a fruit to the face for her efforts. I snorted with amusement, grateful that I was nowhere near the blond brawler. Besides probably being used as a shield against anymore incoming missiles, if she heard someone actually liked her pun, she'd probably jump me then and there. Maybe. With Yang, you can never tell.

I watched with mild amusement as Yang hurled a green apple back at Nora, completely missing and hitting another student in the back of the head. I knew where this was going. It was Nora, anything thrown at her she would perceive as a challenge, and with the valkyrie, things escalated rapidly.

All it took was one mistake. A miscalculation on Nora's part with a cream pie. Yang had been her intended target. Instead she hit Weiss. And then tried passing the blame off onto Ren. I took this opportunity to move to a far corner of the cafeteria, even as the pie slowly slid down Weiss' face.

* * *

It was chaos, to say the least. JNPR had somehow made an actual fort from the surrounding tables, with Nora at the top, proclaiming her sovereignty as "Queen of the Castle", with Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren looking for all the world like bouncers, standing around protectively with their arms crossed.

I was going to leave, but then the melons started flying, one almost taking my head off, so I decided to stay put in the corner where it was relatively safe. For now. Grabbing a nearby table, I flipped it on its side and hid behind it. I peeked out to see what was happening, and man were they going at it.

Poor Jaune got taken out early. By two turkeys. The look on his face as he went down said it all. Pyrrha and Blake were sword-fighting with bread, somehow. I had to question the quality and health issues that arose from seeing how well they held up.

Blake was quickly beaten back, and Ruby surfed on a tray across some tables, pushing Pyrrha back. Weiss used a bottle of ketchup to send poor Ren flying, somehow using WAY more than could possibly be held in the bottle, and Nora quickly avenged him, take out Weiss with a melon stuck on a pole. How it didn't break I'll never know.

The fight quickly escalated once Yang was sent flying through the roof by Nora, with Pyrrha somehow causing all the soda cans from the machines to fly through the air, decimating Blake. Ruby finally put an end to it, activating her Semblance and turning the tide quite literally back on JNPR, smashing them into the far wall and letting the food that flew in her wake finish them off, leaving them a colourful mess.

Then Professor Goodwitch stormed in, wearing the most terrifying expression I'd ever seen on her face, and cleaned the place up. I lost my cover as the table flew off to join its brethren, and managed to sneak out, just as Yang came crashing down back to Remnant.

* * *

My luck ran out when I saw Yang in the hallway. She had cleaned herself up, and her hair was just starting to dry. I'll admit, it makes me jealous that she can dry her hair just by using her Semblance. While my hair isn't as long as hers, it only reaching down to the middle of my back, it's still a pain to dry.

"Wow, you look down. Feeling under the weather?" She asked, and I groaned.

"Your teammates just won't leave me alone. They've been acting odd for the past few days. Ruby and Weiss, especially, have been a little too clingy. I'm just happy to get some alone time at night. I'm a little worn down, to be honest."

And there was my mistake. Yang's face immediately lit up, and she slowly started inching towards me. Sadly, I didn't notice.

"Really now? Man, that sucks. Wonder why they're doing that?"

"I have no idea, but I'm a bit tired, so I'm heading back to my room. I have a part-time job on weekends, and I need all the rest I can get."

I went to move past her, but she grabbed me by the shoulder, stopping me.

"Wait. First, a question. How tired are you? I mean like, are you too tired to defend yourself should someone attack you, or just tired from all the attention you've been getting lately?"

I raised an eyebrow at her, but decided to humor her a little. Besides, it was an honest question, and I figured she was concerned about me.

"A bit of both, actually. Maybe you could ask the other three to lay off a bit? I'd like some alone time for n-HURK!"

I was suddenly yanked back, with Yang's arm around my neck, holding me in a headlock.

"So, you're completely defenseless is what you're saying. Good! That means my plan worked perfectly!"

"YOUR plan?! What do you mean YOUR plan?!"

She didn't reply. Instead she zoomed off to RWBY's room, me in tow, practically choking me on the way. Once we reached the room, she slammed the door shut behind us, and unceremoniously dumped me onto the floor.

"Yang, what the HELL?!" I snapped, rounding on her in anger. She had a devilish grin on her face, and was bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Oh, that's easy. I simply had Ruby and Weiss start hanging out with you more to wear you down, telling them that if they didn't, I'd let slip some photos I have of them and you asleep together."

She held up her scroll, and sure enough, there were two photos on there, one of Ruby and I asleep in the smithy, and the other of Weiss and myself in the classroom.

"HOW DID YOU GET THOSE?!" I yelped, and she laughed, shaking it back and forth in front of me.

"Two words: Security. Cameras."

I groaned, and she put her scroll away.

"OK, you blackmailed them into harassing me. Why?"

I turned to her, and just stared. When the hell did she switch into her pajamas?! OK, nevermind, the day's been strange enough.

"Simple. So far, you've effectively snuggled and slept with everyone in my team BUT me. Now it's **MY** turn!"

Her smile turned predatory, as did the look in her eyes, and I began to back away, very nervously.

"Oh no, this is not happening. I only held Ruby to comfort her since she was afraid. Weiss and Blake forced me down the other two times. I'm NOT doing that again. No way!"

Yang leaped at me, and I tried getting out of the way. Keyword being tried. I was exhausted, and moved a lot more slowly than I thought I would. The end result was Yang crashing into me and holding me in a VERY tight grip.

"Sorry bud, the victim doesn't get a say in the matter! I'm not being left out when the rest of my team got to cuddle you, and I refuse to lose to my own baby sister!"

With that, she dragged me up onto her bunk, me protesting the whole way.

"Lose to Ruby on what?! There's no competition going on, and nothing to be left out of! Let me go, dammit! Yang, I swear on all that is holy, I will shave your head bald if you don't-"

Unfortunately, I didn't get to finish. Yang flopped down on her bed and held me close, pushing my face into her breasts.

Now, let me make a statement. That situation is almost every guy's dream when they look at Yang. I've seen their expressions as they ogle her, I've heard some of the more lewd comments they've said behind her back. Let me clear something up.

There is a reason why some people call it Marshmallow HELL. Namely the fact that you CAN'T BREATH. And for those not yet getting it, you need to BREATH TO **LIVE**.

I frantically kicked my legs wildly, and waved my right arm, which was free. Yang's reaction was to squeeze me harder, pushing my head further into her bosom, wrapping her legs around mine to keep me from moving.

"Goodnight!" She said cheerily above me, and settled down, laying her chin atop my head. At this point, I was absolutely sure I was turning blue, and quickly resorted to smacking my hand on the side of her bunk.

 _Yang, I'm tapping! Dear God, I'm tapping! I can't breath, please let me go! Someone, anyone, I don't care who, enter the room and save me!  
_

As if some entity had heard my silent plea, the door to RWBY's room opened, and I heard several footsteps.

"Yang, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Weiss' voice rang out, even as I heard Ruby gasp. Movement, then some noise from below us indicated that Blake was with them and had sat on her own bed.

"Having my turn cuddling up with him, that's what!" My kidnapper said, "Thanks for wearing him down by the way, I won't spread those photos now."

"Wait, THAT'S why you wanted us to keep in constant contact with him?" Weiss said, surprise and irritation in her voice.

"Yep, and it worked like a charm! He's too tired to fight back, and couldn't get away from me!"

"Actually, I think he's not fighting back because he's losing consciousness." Blake said, humor in her voice. True to her word, I was moving more slowly, and indeed started to pass out. I absolutely could not breath.

"Nah, he's fine! He's just tired, and has probably accepted it by now. I mean, how lucky can he be? Any other guy would have loved to be in this position!"

"Uh, Yang? I don't think he's like that," Ruby, bless her little heart, said nervously, "I also don't think he's supposed to be that colour."

"Ruby, my dear sister, you, Weiss, AND Blake all got your chance to snuggle up with him, and fall asleep! Now it's my turn, and I **WILL** have it. End of discussion."

Whatever else was said is forever lost to me. I was exhausted, pinned down by Yang's body, and suffocating in her bosom. At my limit, my brain, and poor body, couldn't take it anymore. I fell unconscious.

* * *

I don't know how much later it was when I woke up. All I know is that it was dark, and I could hear the rest of Team RWBY's gentle breathing, signaling they were all asleep.

Yang's grip on me had lessened somewhat, enabling me to finally breath, which is probably why I woke up. I'm amazed she didn't kill me. However she still had me in an embrace, my face still in her breasts.

I tried to slip out from her arms, but she groaned and tightened her grip on me. Thankfully, we were both now at an angle that wasn't hazardous to my immediate health, and I could breath. Seeing that I wasn't going anywhere for the rest of the night, I sighed.

Sleep wasn't going to come to me easily, and I couldn't move, pinned down and attached to Yang like a magnet. Even worse, all I could see was her night shirt, and the orange colour was really doing a number to my eyes.

"Enjoying the view?"

Speaking of the she-devil herself...

"Would you believe me if I said no?" I whispered, thankful that she had finally lessened her hold on me enough that I could move away from her chest to speak, though she still wouldn't let me go completely. I could at least look up at her now.

"Actually, I probably would," She replied back, a grin on her face, "You're pretty odd, you know that? Whereas most guys would take advantage of the situation, and myself, you actually COMPLAIN instead. Even when you were alone, and in the arms of the other three, you didn't do anything."

"Yeah, well I'm not controlled by my hormones, thank you very much. You'll have to forgive me if I actually have some decency. Besides, I'm pretty sure you'd kill anyone who tried anything with Ruby, and break the bones of anyone who tried taking advantage of you, period."

"Aww, that's so sweet!" Yang cooed, holding me close and tightly, resulting in me once again getting stuck in her bosom, though this time I could breath.

"Gack! Yang, my neck. It's at a bad angle! It's gonna snap!"

She let me go, and I groaned, my neck already sore. I twisted it, hearing it pop in several places, and glared at her.

"Aw, don't get all _bent_ out of shape over that! It's not like I did it on purpose."

She smiled brightly at me, and I just raised an eyebrow.

"Yang, have you been eating pizza recently? You're acting a bit _...cheesy._ "

I froze as the words came out of my mouth, eyes wide with what was probably horror. I hadn't even thought about it, and had unintentionally made a pun. In front of Yang Xiao Long. Who loved to make puns and didn't know when to stop.

Her eyes were also wide as she stared at me in shock. Just as I began to get nervous and wonder what to do, she broke out into a huge grin and hugged me tightly.

"Good one!" She cheered, laughing quietly, rolling back and forth, taking me along with her, "There's hope for you yet! As for your question, of course I have! Everyone _kneads_ a little pizza in their life!"

I groaned as she cackled above me. What had I gotten myself into? Well, time to return fire.

"Hey Yang, I've been wondering, have you ever thought about styling your hair? Or do you need to _mullet_ over first?"

She gave a gasp above me, and held me tighter. At first, I was afraid I'd made her mad, and she was going to break my neck in retaliation, but then she went and replied with a pun of her own, amusement in her voice.

"No, actually, I haven't. After all, the testimony at the barbershop is mostly _hair-say_."

I snorted, as best I could from between her breasts, and rolled my eyes. OK, that one was pretty weak. She also seemed to catch onto that.

"What, you didn't like that one? But I'm always on time with my jokes. I guess you could say I'm pretty _pun-ctual_."

"Sorry," I replied, trying to squirm out of her grasp so I wasn't lodged in her boobs, "but I'm emotionally constipated. I haven't given a shit in years."

Yang snorted loudly, and her whole body shook, and she literally wrapped her arms around me and BIT my head to keep from laughing.

"Ouch! Why are you biting ME?" I said, mostly to her chest. Seriously, if she doesn't let go soon, **I'M** going to do some biting of my own, God so help me!

"Who knows? Maybe I like how you taste. Maybe I'm turning into a cannibal." She said from above, and began to chew on my ear.

"Huh. You know, some cannibals were after my bones once. I _marrowly_ escaped them."

We went on like that for hours, and the puns only got worse. Finally, exhausted and close to passing out, I conceded.

"OK Yang, you win. I surrender, you're the Pungeon Master."

She groaned at that last one, but relented and finally stopped, loosening her hold on me in the process. I immediately shifted my face away from her chest, and we lay there for a bit, before I sighed.

"I suppose I couldn't bother you to let me go so I can go sleep in my own dorm room, could I?" I asked her, and she put on a show of thinking about it, even stroking her chin thoughtfully.

"Nope!" She said, popping the P and mimicking Ruby. With that, she dragged me back into her bosom, holding me tightly, but allowing me some air to breath.

"I meant it when I said I wanted my turn to snuggle up with you, and that means for the whole night. Plus some of the day, since it's a weekday and we don't have classes."

I sighed for the umpteenth time and just resigned myself to my fate. In the back of my mind, a small voice kept nagging me.

 _Is this really so bad?_

I gave it some thought. I was...warm. Yang had a complete hold on me, and was keeping me close to her. It felt secure, as though I was safe. I wasn't alone, like I would have been in my dorm room. Maybe it wasn't as bad as I was making it out to be. What's more, I could hear her heartbeat, strong and steady, and the rhythm was slowly lulling me to sleep.

I relaxed, and closed my eyes. Yang must have felt that and seen my eyes close though, for I heard her snicker, and suddenly I was in a death grip again, face smashed in between her breasts, cutting off all air. Above me, I could hear her laughing quietly.

 _Dammit Yang, you're doing this on purpose!_

I took it back immediately as I began to fall unconscious. It WAS as bad as I was making it out to be!

* * *

 **Prompt;** _ **"Yang gives you marshmallow hell, almost smothering you in her pillowy bosom"**_

 **Thoughts;** _Before anyone talks about Yang being OOC here, you have to remember: Yang is just Barbara. She's even said she just channels herself when getting into the role as Yang. Barbara would do something like this. So, this chapter. I enjoyed writing it a lot. Had a lot of fun with the puns too, and it reveals a bit more about our fearless (snicker) OC._


	5. Of Dances, Romances, and Photos

**Chapter Five**

* * *

 _"Weiss, you can't do that!"_

 _"Ruby, she blackmailed us, let me have at least this one thing."_

 _"Somehow I doubt she's going to care. He might, though."_

 _"Yeah, it's just going to embarrass him!"_

I groaned inwardly as the voices cascaded in my mind. I couldn't tell who was talking, not with the heavy fog around my brain, but I was tired and I wanted to go back to sleep. I tightened my arms around whatever I was holding, and nestled deeper into it. I was warm, comfortable, and sleeping against something soft and I had no intention of waking up.

The voices started up again, but this time they were cooing with affection.

"Aww, that's so adorable! Weiss, you can take the picture now, and send me a copy when you're done!"

"Hang on, let me get them both in focus. There!"

"I'll take a copy too."

I felt movement as whatever I was holding onto shifted.

"Hello girls. Jealous?"

I heard scrambling and suddenly the voices were a bit further away than before.

"Yang! How long have you been awake?"

"Long enough to know that even the Ice Queen finds this adorable." the voice said, and I was gently squeezed, and fingers ran through my hair. While the voices spluttered, the fog in my brain began to lift, and I finally began to realize just what was happening, where I was, and more importantly, **_what I had just done._**

To say I was mortified would be an understatement.

 _I just nestled my head into Yang's..._

I cut that thought off real fast, and my mind began to race. How was I going to get out of this situation now?! OK, calm down and think. I'm in a VERY compromising position with Yang, the other three saw it and apparently took a picture and oh God, Weiss took a picture of us.

I must have tensed up or something and Yang must have noticed it, because her reaction was to hold me closer and give me one more squeeze.

"Mornin' Cuddlebug. Enjoying yourself? I know **I** am."

My eyes shot open in horror, only to find myself staring at her chest, which was way too damn close for my comfort.

"Enjoying the view?" Yang chortled above me.

As a calm, rational, and sensible guy, with a knack for handling pressure and calmly assessing the situation at hand, I reacted appropriately.

I let out a **very** shrill and feminine shriek, and pushed myself away from Yang as hard as possible, trying to backpedal quickly. Unfortunately, I forgot to take into account the fact that Yang still had her arms wrapped around me, and was a HELL of a lot stronger than I am.

The end result was I fell off her bed, taking her with me. We both crashed to the floor loudly, and painfully. I groaned as I lay there, Yang sprawled out on top of me.

"Are you OK?!" I heard Ruby ask, rushing near us.

"I will be when someone removes the fiend from atop me." I said, my voice muffled by Yang's breasts. She laughed and sat up, giving me some much needed air, and sat on top of my legs with an apologetic smile. The sudden shift from orange to white as I stared at the ceiling caused me to get dizzy, and I shut my eyes.

"Ugh, make the room stop spinning please." I groaned as my equilibrium abandoned me, the filthy traitor. My head hurt. Could be a aneurysm. Probably a concussion.

"Honestly, I can't believe you two." I heard Weiss say from somewhere nearby.

"Hey, I'm the victim here. I was kidnapped, dragged here, and held against my will, very literally."

"I-is there anything we can do?" Ruby asked hesitantly, and I sighed, cracking my eyes open a little. The room stopped spinning, so I sat up halfway, propping myself up with my arms.

"Yeah, just one thing: Someone get Yang off my legs, I can't feel them anymore."

She hopped up and I groaned, rubbing them as the blood returned to them, before standing up.

"Right, girls, as much as I'd **love** to stay, I promised Ren that I'd help keep Nora in line today. Pray for me."

"We'll prepare you a touching eulogy." Blake deadpanned as I left.

* * *

Entertaining Nora isn't as difficult as one may think. You just had to have something to gain her attention, and a (un)willing helper. Luckily, I had just the thing in mind.

"NO NORA, DON'T DO IT!"

"BWAHAHAHAHA! THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Nora moved her character over to where Jaune's was hanging off a cliff, and booted him off to his death.

"NORA, WHY?! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE IN THIS TOGETHER!"

I peeked over the book I was reading to watch the two as they played the game I had brought over. It had been easy enough to get Jaune involved, I simply told him that it was a leader's job to keep his team entertained. Of course I lied, as I had no idea if that was true or not, but it worked nonetheless.

While they played the game, I was reading a romance book for once, instead of sketching. It was a good book, about a sickly girl who meets and falls in love with an amputee. Very bittersweet. Pyrrha was watching the two play, though her eyes were on Jaune alone. Seriously, even I could see she was smitten with him, so how could he not?!

Ren was on his bed, fast asleep, evidently unbothered by the noise that Jaune and Nora were making. Seriously, I want to be able to sleep that deeply! Thinking about sleep reminded me of this morning, and the situation with Yang, and I quickly ducked back behind my book, hoping I wasn't turning red.

"Uhm..." a voice sounded, and I looked back over to see Jaune looking at me, scratching his head sheepishly.

"Yes?" I asked, putting my book down.

"W-well, I was wondering...do you remember that day you helped Velvet with Cardin, in the library?"

"Yeah?" I said, looking at him in confusion. Why was he bringing this up now? Did he feel bad about me stepping in instead of him?

"Well, do you remember what Velvet said about you and...Weiss?"

 _Oh for the love of-_

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to stop you RIGHT there," I interrupted him, holding a hand up, "Nothing happened between Weiss and I. Rumors are started by lack of evidence and gossip, so I'd appreciate it if you dropped that line of thought."

"Oh...OK." Jaune said, just as Pyrrha's scroll chimed. She looked at it, turned red, gave a cough, and apologetically turned the scroll towards us. On it was a picture.

A picture of Weiss and I asleep, Weiss' arms and legs wrapped around me, her head on my chest. My own head rested on hers, and she had the most gentle expression ever on her face.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Jaune yelled as Nora squealed in delight, grabbing the scroll from Pyrrha and dancing about with it, even as Jaune tried grabbing it from her to get a better look at it. I groaned, put my book down and left quickly, surprised to see Ren was still sleeping through all the ruckus.

 _Dammit Yang!_

* * *

Later, I was in the cafeteria, alone. Teams RWBY and JNPR were in the library, apparently studying while RWBY played a game together. I decided to use this opportunity to spend some time alone and just enjoy the peace and quiet.

Don't get me wrong, I love those guys. Just, when they're around, things get a bit...wild.

I was sitting there, munching on some chicken, when three transfer students passed by. It wasn't uncommon to see students from the other academies here, not with the Vytal Festival drawing closer. It was actually really easy to tell which ones were from which school, too.

Atlas were the easiest. They were all straight laced, backs rigid, wearing white military style uniforms. Students from Shade, wore no uniforms, probably due to how hot it was in Vacuo, and students from Haven in Mistral wore some nice black uniforms. Maybe if I asked nicely enough, Professor Goodwitch would let me wear their uniforms instead.

Anyway, I glanced at the three students who passed me as they sat at a table a bit away, and almost choked on my meal. There was one boy and two girls. The boy seemed normal enough, grey hair, and the one girl had dark skin and mint green hair, but it was the other girl that had caught my attention.

She was...gorgeous. Hey now, don't judge me. I'm a perfectly healthy teenager with hormones, just like any other, and while I'm not controlled by them, I **can** appreciate beauty when I see it. You'd do the same in my situation!

The only way to describe the woman would be that she looked exotic. She had long black hair that ended in curls, covering the right side of her face, and amber coloured eyes. Her skin was fair and smooth looking, and I couldn't help but stare at first. I had never seen a woman like her before, ever.

However, I got over my very brief infatuation, and turned back to my food. I'm guessing they must have seen me looking, because they stood up with their trays and made their way over to my table and sat across from me.

"Hello," the woman said, and even her voice sounded exotic, "My companion here tells me you were looking our way."

"Err," I stumbled, completely caught off guard, "Sorry! I didn't mean to look! I've just...never seen someone like you before."

 _Oh yeah, real smooth. About as smooth as cracked glass!_

"Is that so?" She asked with a smirk, and I hoped to everything holy and good that I wasn't blushing.

"Er, sorry," I said again, "I didn't mean that in any wrong way. I've never been outside of Vale, so..."

I gestured helplessly, but she seemed to get it, if her laugh was anything to go by. I'm hoping that's why she laughed.

"I see, that would explain it. My team and I are from Mistral. I am Cinder, and these are my companions, Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai."

I smiled and shook Mercury's hand, introducing myself as well. Emerald didn't offer a handshake.

"Dude, lovin' the hair." Mercury said, and I laughed and thanked him, noticing our hair colours were similar, though his was a darker shade than mine was, and shorter, whereas mine was much lighter and reached to the middle of my back.

"Don't you find it irritating to manage with it being that long?" Emerald asked me, and I shook my head.

"Nah, not really. I have a friend whose hair is even longer than mine is, and she and I sometimes do the other's hair."

"Your teammate, I presume?" Cinder asked, and I shook my head.

"Nah, I don't have a team," I said, "Beacon had an uneven number of students this year, and I just so happened to be that unlucky number. No team, no partner."

"Well, that sucks." Mercury said bluntly, earning a smack from Emerald. Cinder just looked at me thoughtfully, for some reason.

"Interesting...Well, we'd best be going. It was...nice meeting you."

"Oh, no problem," I said as they stood up and began to walk away," Welcome to Beacon!"

* * *

The next day saw me sitting in Professor Goodwitch's class, watching Pyrrha Nikos mop the floor with Team CRDL. Truthfully, despite it being completely onesided, I was enjoying myself. Mostly because I enjoyed seeing them get hurt that badly after the trouble they caused.

Damn, when did I become so sadistic?

After her fight was over, and after a brief spar with Mercury, Professor Goodwitch reminded everyone of every anti-social wallflower's worst nightmare: **The Dance.**

Yes, apparently we were to have a dance coming up Sunday, and a mission the day after. Most students were looking forward to it.

Most.

I briefly ran into Blake while walking through the school, and grew concerned over the dark bags under her eyes. After asking her about it, she said it was just her being nervous over the dance, something I understood well. When I continued my walk, I saw Jaune around the corner, looking dejected and carrying a...guitar?

Yep, definitely a guitar.

"Hey Jaune, what's up?" I asked, and he sighed, shaking his head.

"I asked Weiss out to the dance on Sunday, and she rejected me. Hard."

I sighed as well, and decided enough was enough. Someone was going to have to tell him eventually, might as well be me.

"Jaune," I said, and he looked up at me, "Dude. Fella. Mate. Buddy. Chum. Comrade. Associate. Weiss is not into you. Furthermore, continuously asking her isn't going to change her mind. She's just going to push you away."

"WELL THAT'S EASY FOR YOU TO SAY!" Jaune yelled, surprising me and I took a step back, startled.

Huh, I was not expecting that.

"You're already sleeping with her, so it's obvious she likes you!" He explained bitterly, and I realized my mistake. See, I should have just been upfront about what happened, especially since I knew Jaune was crushing on Weiss. Of course he'd be angry, from his viewpoint I just took the girl he was trying to court!

"Jaune," I sighed, rubbing my eyes, "Weiss and I aren't dating, or sleeping together. We're not even an item. That picture of us? Nothing indecent, or romantic, happened. I was comforting her that night because she was feeling melancholic, that's it."

Jaune stopped, and stared at me. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, evidently surprised.

"Oh..." was all he managed to say, and I nodded.

"Oh indeed."

We were silent for a moment, before Jaune spoke up again.

"Sorry...I guess I went overboard, huh?"

"Eh, not really. You were perfectly justified with your anger. I just wish you had realized sooner that Weiss and I weren't a couple. I mean, seriously, mate?"

Jaune slumped to the ground, and I sat across from him, cross-legged.

"Well," he said, smiling sadly, "It was nice while it lasted. I just wish she had seen me for me, you know? She's amazing in every way, looks, grades, talent, even singing. I just wanted a chance."

"Jaune," I sighed, "Life and romance aren't so clearly cut. Even if she did give you a chance, it wouldn't mean she'd end up liking you. Sometimes things just aren't meant to be."

"Yeah, I know." he replied glumly. It wasn't a satisfying answer for him, nor the one he wanted, but he finally accepted it, albeit begrudgingly. We got up, and I walked with him to the music room, to return the guitar.

"So, how was it?" he asked me, and I tilted my head quizzically at him.

"You know...sleeping with Weiss."

I blanched badly, making him laugh, and glared at him.

"I don't know what you're implying, but it certainly sounds like it's something indecent!"

"No no, I didn't mean that! I meant, well, Weiss isn't exactly one for...shows of comfort. I can't imagine how you managed to pull it off, but it must have been something."

I thought back to the situation, and decided to just be truthful to Jaune about it.

"Actually, I didn't exactly tell the truth when I said I was the one to comfort her," I said, to his confusion, "It was actually the other way around. I was feeling melancholic over not having a team, and...well...she..."

I gestured and his eyes grew huge, and his mouth dropped open.

"No. Way," he said, and I shrugged, "Weiss Schnee, Ice Princess herself, did **that**?"

"Yeah. I was honestly just as surprised as you are now, more so because it happened to _me_. There's a lot more to her than you think, Jaune."

"Wow..." he said quietly, and I shook my head.

"To actually answer your question though, there wasn't anything to think about or feel. She grabbed me, pulled me down, and laid her head on my chest. I was too shocked, and afraid, to think about our position. Plus, it's Weiss. She's not interested in anyone, her studies and career are more important than silly little romance."

"You're wrong there," Jaune said, "There is someone she's interested in. I've seen it firsthand."

I choked on air, _literal air_ , and almost fell over.

"What?! When? How? **WHO**?!" I demanded, surprised. Jaune laughed, genuine humor and bitterness mixed together.

"Some guy with blue hair named Neptune. Yesterday, when we were all in the library except for you, that guy you met, Sun Wukong? He showed up and brought his friend along. The guy called Weiss Snow Angel, and she LIKED IT. Can you imagine that?!"

"Wow." I said. Who would have thought that Weiss would fall for someone who used the same corny name that Jaune did?

"Yeah, I know. Hurts even more now, to know she'll give him a chance, but not me."

I looked at Jaune in concern, and saw his eyes downcast. Should I tell him? Should I give him a hint? Would I be helping, or making things worse? Well, only one way to find out for sure.

"Hey, Jaune, I have something to tell you. There **is** a girl who likes you, and a lot at that. She's been watching you for a while now, but you haven't noticed her yet."

"Really?!" He said incredulously, and I nodded.

"Absolutely. I can't tell you who it is, because it's up to her to confess, and it's up to you to find out, but I can give you a hint. You know her."

"Who?! Who is it?!" He asked frantically, but I shook my head.

"Sorry mate, but it's not my place to say. I probably shouldn't have mentioned it to begin with, but I did, because I don't like seeing her get hurt, or you ignoring her when everyone else sees it."

"Wait, everyone else knows it too?!"

"They're not going to tell you, you have to find out for yourself. Oh, and Jaune? If or when she confess, give her a chance, alright? You wanted Weiss to give you a chance, but that never happened. Don't do the same to her."

"A-alright, I will."

We clasped hands together briefly, like brothers in arms, before parting ways.

 _Well Pyrrha, the ball's in your court now. Better continue trying to get his attention, because he's now looking._

* * *

Sunday night rolled around the corner, and I found myself sitting out on a balcony overlooking the courtyard. To my right was the amphitheater where the dance was going on, and boy was it in full swing.

I didn't intend to join in though. I didn't have a partner, and to be honest, I'm a little anti-social as well. Dances just weren't my thing, neither were parties. I was happy just watching from the outside, and seeing my friends be happy.

Speaking of happy friends, I saw Blake and Sun walking into the building, arm in arm. The dark bags under her eyes were finally gone, and she seemed like she was enjoying herself. I was happy for her. She and Sun just seemed to fit together, I wasn't sure why. But she was genuinely happy, so that was all that mattered.

Looking out at the dance floor, I could see Weiss with some blue haired guy, probably that Neptune fellow that Jaune had told me about. The guy was terrible at dancing, but Weiss didn't seem to mind, laughing and dancing along with him, copying his moves.

 _Looks like you're not the loneliest of them after all._ I thought with a smile. At the center of the dance floor was Team JNPR, with Jaune leading them into a snappy dance routine. Because of course Jaune would know how to dance like that, it just made sense.

My eyes roamed over the dance floor, and I saw Blake and Sun dancing, with Blake laughing. She rarely laughed as it was, so to see her doing it publicly, and out loud? Yeah, she was definitely happy. I spotted Ruby and Yang on the second floor, chatting away. It's a good thing they didn't notice me out here, otherwise Yang might have dragged me in and forced me to dance with Ruby. Or worse, herself.

"And what are you doing out here, young man?" A voice cut through my musings, and I almost fell off the railing, arms flailing wildly as I tried to regain my balance, before giving up and throwing my weight forward, hitting the balcony ground hard.

Professor Ozpin stood there, a bemused grin on his face as I slowly stood up, groaning.

"Oh, hi Professor. I'm not exactly a dance or party type of guy. I prefer to watch instead."

"I see," he said slowly, taking a drink from his mug, "Funny, I heard another student say something similar. But you know, you should use this opportunity to have some fun, and create memories and bonds with your friends and fellow students to cherish for years to come."

He fell silent as he watched the dance, and I didn't bother saying anything. Memories and bonds eh? For a guy without a partner or team?

My scroll chimed suddenly, causing me to jump, and I pulled it out to see that I had received a message, with four photos attached.

Opening it, I read the message first, which was just a winking smiley face, before opening all four photos.

The first one was of Ruby and I asleep, with Ruby clutching me with one arm, and Crescent Rose in the other. The second was the one I saw earlier, of Weiss and I asleep with her wrapped around me. The third photo, the one I saw Yang take when I woke up, was of me and Blake, with her curled up, nibbling on my ear.

The final one must have been the one Weiss took two days ago, of Yang and I. It showed me in Yang's arms with my own around her waist, head in her chest. No matter how much I looked at it, the photo didn't feel lewd, or inappropriate. It looked more like a brother and sister, or mother and son if I felt like looking into it too deeply.

While I looked at them, I hovered my hand over the delete button. Lord knows I didn't need anyone seeing these and spreading rumors around! But, I didn't press it.

 _Create memories and bonds that I'll cherish for years to come?_

I thought about what Professor Ozpin said. I had no team, not even a partner, yet I was friends with both teams RWBY and JNPR, and while the photos and situations were embarrassing, didn't they bring me closer to my friends? They certainly had them open up more to me, and looking back on them, they weren't that embarrassing.

Instead of deleting the photos, I clicked save instead, and smiled.

"Well Professor, I'm happy to say, I've already created memories and bonds that I already cherish even now."

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

It was late in the night, and the dance had ended hours ago. However, there were still students awake, some having private parties in their dorm rooms. But that wasn't my intention, as I snuck my way to JNPR's room.

In all the excitement that had happened over the past two days, I had completely forgotten about my book, which I had left in their room. With the missions coming up, I wanted to get it before we all left, and I was loathe to leave it until morning.

I made it to their room, and quietly opened the door. It was dark inside, but one of their lamps were on, casting the room in a dim glow. I spotted my book on a nearby desk and slowly crept over and got it. I was just turning to leave when something caught my eye.

Jaune and Pyrrha were passed out on her bed, Jaune still in his tuxedo, Pyrrha still in her dress. They were both asleep in each other's arms, with Pyrrha's legs intertwined with Jaune's, and his face was buried in her neck. On Ren's bed, Nora lay beside him, one hand resting lightly on his chest, making some adorable mini-snoring sounds.

It was far too cute to pass up. I quietly snuck over to Pyrrha's bed, where I took several pictures of her and Jaune, and did the same with Ren and Nora, before leaving, satisfied. Just as I made it to the door, I looked back at them, and smiled.

"Well Pyrrha, congratulations, Jaune finally noticed," I whispered, "And Jaune? Good luck, mate."

I then closed the door.

* * *

 **Prompt;** _ **"Pyrrha embraces you warmly, intertwining her legs with yours"** , and **"Nora daintily rests her hand on your chest while making the most adorable mini-snoring noise of all time"**_

 **Thoughts;** _I decided not to have the OC cuddle with Pyrrha and Nora because I'm an Arkos and Renora deckhand, and I couldn't see it happen anyway. So I gave him a brief break and decided to go with the obvious alternative. The OC's little talk with Jaune is basically just common sense made into words._


	6. Drunken Teachers And Barroom Brawls

**Chapter Six**

* * *

It was 5:43 AM when I woke up. Stretching, I looked at the reason as to why I was awake; my flashing scroll, signaling I had an unread message. I picked it up, wondering who it was. It couldn't be anyone from RWBY or JNPR, they were all sensible people who didn't wake up at unholy hours like now. I didn't know anyone else too well at Beacon either.

I looked at the message, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. The first thing I noticed was the name of the sender. It was Ozpin. He requested my presence later in the day, after the speech he was to give before all the students went off on their missions.

With nothing better to do, and sleep not coming easily, I did the one thing that was available to me: Sketch. And boy, did I have the perfect reference to draw. Bringing up my gallery on my scroll, I flipped past the photos of the girls of Team RWBY and I, and settled on one of the latest ones I took myself; Pyrrha and Jaune asleep together.

 _You should totally draw them naked._ Yang's voice immediately sounded in my head, and I cursed internally. I'd been hanging around her too much if the first thought that came to my mind was something SHE'D say!

 _Haha-No._

Time passed, and eventually I heard the intercom ring, and then Professor Goodwitch's voice, asking all students to report to the amphitheater. I left my room and made my way to the main building. My room had once been an office for a teacher, before Beacon was apparently renovated, and it had changed to a dorm room for students unlucky enough to not have a partner or team. Students like yours truly.

I entered the amphitheater and saw Teams RWBY and JNPR off in a corner, next to all the Beacon students. It was too crowded to make it to them, so I opted to just stand with the rest of the masses as Ozpin gave his speech on the Great War.

I was pretty familiar with the story myself. I come from an old family with a long and rich linage, so it's not too surprising that my great-grandfather fought in the war. Even my great-grandparents from my father's side did. There were plenty of other families like that, including the Schnees and the Arcs.

Once Ozpin finished his speech, all the students went about choosing which missions they were to go on. I saw Team RWBY briefly chatting with Ozpin before they selected something. Afterwards, Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch left for Beacon Tower, and after a few minutes, I followed after them.

* * *

Beacon Tower. Also known as the CCT Tower, it's pretty much the single largest building in all of Vale, and despite the fact that I've seen it countless times, it never fails to inspire a sense of awe in me. Apparently, over in Atlas, there are buildings even bigger than it!

I entered the tower, and took the elevator all the way to the top, where Professor Ozpin's office was. When I entered, Ozpin and Goodwitch were sitting and standing there.

"Hello young man, come in."

I hesitantly stepped up to his desk. Why would the headmaster want to meet with me?

"I wanted to talk to you about the missions that the students are taking," Ozpin said, as if reading my mind, "The missions require a team effort, not only from the teams themselves, but them and the Huntsman or Huntress they're with. Unfortunately, you are without both a partner, and a team. This is a difficult decision for me to make, but I cannot, under good conscious, allow you to take a mission."

Ah, of course.

"Please understand," this time Professor Goodwitch spoke up, standing by the desk, "The headmaster wishes you to be safe. Even if there is a Huntsman or Huntress with the teams, there is still a risk of danger, and it would just not do to allow a single student and teacher out on a mission like this."

"Alright, I understand." I said, as calmly as possible.

I left before anything else was said. I hated this! Always with the fact that I have no partner or team, and now I couldn't even take part in the same thing every other student was doing! It was unfair!

No...no that wasn't fair to them. They were right. Ordinarily a student wouldn't even be without a team at Beacon, even as they happen. With just a student and teacher on a mission, it'd be even more dangerous than they already were. I wasn't happy about it, but I had to accept it all the same.

Before I could into full blown brood mode, my scroll chimed, notifying me of an incoming call. I checked, and noticed the caller ID was my boss, from my part-time job.

"Yes sir?" I asked, answering it.

"You're needed here tonight, the place is crowded and these idiots keep screwing things up! Again!"

"Yes sir!" I said, and he hung up. Well, I guess I found out what I was going to do until everyone else got back.

* * *

The Club. A pretty big bar, ran by one Hei Xiong, or Junior as he's called by everyone else. A somewhat alright guy, who was willing to give a teenager without a stable form of income a part-time job, despite how morally dubious that might seem.

My first day on the job had been simple, just observe Junior as he made the drinks, watch the Mooks as they made sure no one caused trouble, and stay on Miltia and Melanie's good sides. Simple, easy to understand and remember, and effective.

As it turned out, I was probably best suited behind the bar. Since my dad was an alcoholic, I was familiar with the different types of drinks, as well as how they were made. Not something I'm proud of, mind you, but every bad situation has a small silver lining in it somewhere. Make the most of what you have.

That had been around the second time I had gone to work there. The place had apparently been destroyed by somebody who took everyone in there on and wiped them all out, and Junior was more than happy to have someone who knew what they were doing behind the counter.

Now days it was like clockwork. Head down to the Club, change into the uniform, get behind the bar, and serve drinks the way they were ordered. Simple to remember, easy to do. Speaking of the uniforms, I liked them. Black suits, red ties, black hats, and red shades. They were stylish in a sense. **My** shades were different than the others, sleek and cool looking. Take THAT, average mooks!

I forwent the hat and weapon though. Not a fan, and it was irritating to wear. I like my hair free, thank you very much! As for the weapon, pfft, what I had was far cooler and way more effective. All in all, a good way to make some money on the side.

It was a busy night, and one that would probably keep me there until late. I wasn't sure why it was so crowded, but Melanie told me that it was due to the Vytal Festival and all of them were from the other kingdoms.

"Ey! I'd like a Strawberry Sunrise! No ice, and a little umbrella!"

I sighed as I mixed the man's drink. What was UP with that particular order? Seriously, out of everything I could serve, the Strawberry Sunrise was the Club's most popular drink. And always with no ice and umbrellas. Was there some joke or something that everyone but me was in on?

"So," Junior said, glancing at me from where he stood looking all businesslike, adjusting his tie, "I heard most of Beacon's students left on different missions. Why are you still here?"

I looked up at him, pausing from cleaning a glass, and shrugged.

"The headmaster didn't think it was safe for me to go, since I don't have a partner or team."

Junior grunted but didn't reply, and I went back to my work. Hours passed by, the steady stream of customers showed no signs of slowing down. It was far into the night when it slowed, and late when it stopped. It was at this point that we received our last visitor, and boy was that a surprise!

Late into the night, as I put up most of the glasses, one final customer walked into the bar. I nearly choked when I saw her.

"P-P-PROFESSOR GOODWITCH?!"

She was just as surprised to see me, before her eyes narrowed.

"Young man, just WHAT, exactly, are you doing here?"

I gulped, and smiled nervously.

"This is my part-time job?"

"Young man, you are too young to be so much as stepping _foot_ in this establishment, let alone work here!" Professor Goodwitch said sternly, disapproval evident in her eyes as she strode towards the bar and sat down, looking around expectantly.

"Where's the bartender?" She asked, and I picked up a glass and walked over to where she sat.

"You're looking at him," I said, and she scowled at me, evidently unimpressed and not believing me.

"Kid's right," Junior spoke up, walking over to us, before stopping short, and paling considerably, "G-Glynda Goodwitch?!"

"Hei Xiong," She said, raising an eyebrow at the man, "I didn't expect to see you here. So, I guess the rumors of you running this shoddy place were true after all."

Junior cleared his throat and pulled on his tie, obviously nervous, and glanced at me. I got his unsaid message and turned to Professor Goodwitch.

"So, uhm, Professor, what would you like to drink?"

She stared at me long and hard, just generally making me feel uncomfortable, before sighing.

"Take whatever's strongest, and make it stronger."

I immediately set to work, mixing the drink and colour, even adding a little purple umbrella to it. Once done, I set the drink down in front of her, and she eyed it critically.

"You made this extraordinarily fast and easily..." She said, slowly looking up at me. I gave a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of my head.

"Well, I've had practice, and I'm no stranger to alcohol, so..."

"Yes, I'm aware of your experiences." Professor Goodwitch said, before picking up her drink and downing it in one go. I stared at her, open-mouthed as she set her empty glass down and looked back up.

"Another!"

I immediately went back to refill her glass, wondering just how she could drink so casually.

"So, Professor, how do you know Junior?" I asked, hoping to start up some form of conversation. She rolled her eyes and downed her drink again.

"He was once a student at Beacon, years ago. While his academic records weren't the worst, he never did complete his third year, and dropped out. We haven't heard from him since, though I now see why."

She threw a critical look at Junior, who only tugged on his tie nervously, before walking away. The twins didn't seem too keen on getting close either. Probably because the Professor's a Huntress.

I refilled her glass for the third time, and she drank it slowly this time, eyes staring off into nothing as she seemed deep in thought. Up above, the DJ had just switched on the music, probably in an attempt to keep the woman calm.

 _"Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest."  
_

The song was played a lot, and was quite catchy. I could never quite shake the feeling of familiarity though whenever I heard it. At least the beat and tempo were nice. I turned back to Professor Goodwitch to see her finish her drink.

"Another!" She shouted, and I shook my head. Dear God, she was drinking hard tonight.

"Um, Professor, maybe you should ease up a bit? If you get too drunk, you won't be able to make it back to Beacon."

 _"White is cold and always yearning, burdened by a royal test."_

"Young man, while I appreciate your concern, there are very few students at Beacon, and it is one of the rare times I can truly relax without anyone needing me for something. I fully intend to get as drunk as possible."

 _"Black the beast descends from shadows."_

I stared at her in wonder, even as I refilled her glass. This was a far cry from the stern teacher that terrified half the student body and even some other teachers.

 _"Yellow beauty burns gold..."_

* * *

 _"Mirror, tell me something. Tell me who's the loneliest of all?"  
_

"It's not fair! I do all the work, I teach the students, I handle the bills, I even make sure his drink is always ready for him! Yet he barely recognizes it or why I do all of it for him! And do I get even a simple thank you? HAH, OF COURSE NOT!"

Goodwitch slammed her glass on the table, swaying heavily, eyes blurry as she ranted to me about how much Professor Ozpin was irritating her, and not realizing all she did for him. I only shook my head in sympathy as I refilled her glass for the umpteenth time.

"Don't even get me started on James Ironwood! _'My arm was acting up'_. HAH! That man couldn't tell a believable lie to save a life! He doesn't even trust Ozpin like I do, yet he has the gall to ask Ozpin to trust him!"

 _"Fear of, what's inside of me. Tell me can a heart be turned to stone?"_

"He used to be such a charming and gentle man, too, back then. Strong, handsome, always eager to protect others, even if it meant going to the extremes. He would always ask me for a dance whenever we had them. Of course I would say no, but in the end, we'd still end up dancing. Sometimes, Ozpin and him would even fight over who got to dance with me. Ah, but that was before James became General..."

I couldn't believe I was hearing this. I seriously couldn't believe it. Yet here I was, listening to the sternest teacher in all the four kingdoms of Remnant, smashed, ranting about Professor Ozpin and General Ironwood, and how little she was appreciated.

It was actually kind of sad, because she had a point.

"You," she said suddenly, fixing me with an unsteady gaze, pointing at me, "You're not average in your fighting ability. I'm not as easily fooled as your peers, and neither is Ozpin. You could do better, but you don't. Why is that?"

 _"Born with, no life, into subjugation. Treated, like a, worthless animal!"_

Before I could answer that uncomfortable question, she was off on another topic, one equally uncomfortable.

"You've been quite busy with the girls of Team RWBY lately, haven't you? Don't give me that look, I'm not the head teacher at Beacon for nothing. I'm well aware that you've done nothing indecent with them, so I won't throw you out the nearest window," _Wait WHAT_ , "But I want to know how you did it. How did you get them to notice you?"

I scratched my head sheepishly, and gave a nervous smile.

"Well, I didn't exactly do anything. Um, I'm assuming you've seen the pictures or something," She nodded, "Alright, so you already know how most went down. Ruby wanted comfort because she was afraid, Weiss was trying to comfort me I guess, and I have no idea why Blake decided to curl up next to me, or use me as a chew toy."

"And Miss Xiao Long?"

"Well, Yang's Yang."

"Ah," she said, as if that were the most perfectly logical answer to give, and explained everything. Which, if I'm being honest, it actually did.

"So young man, I heard that you confronted Mr. Winchester a while back after he was picking on Miss Scarlatina. While I'm happy to see students actively stepping up and doing something about it, I have to wonder, was it because your cousin is a Faunus?"

 _"Stripped of, all rights, just a lesser being. Crushed by, cruel, ruthless Human rule!"_

"That was one of the defining reasons, yes," I replied, thinking back to that day, which seemed so long ago. Even now, it angered me, "But I also couldn't just stand there when someone who claims he wants to be a Huntsman picks on a fellow student just because she's slightly different."

Professor Goodwitch nodded, and hummed in satisfaction. She downed the rest of her drink, and suddenly cheered, whooping loudly and startling the hell out of me.

"ANOTHER!" She shouted, smashing the glass onto the floor. I just stared at it, then back at her, then back at the glass. Luckily, one of Junior's mooks quickly came by and cleaned it up. As I turned to get another glass, I felt a tug on my sleeve. Turning back I saw Professor Goodwitch staring at me intently.

"I want a larger glass." She slurred, slumping back down into her seat. Junior came by in time to hear that and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Hey, um, Goodwitch, ma'am, how are you planning to pay for all this?"

"Oh don't worry, I'll wire the money from Ironwood's account."

Both Junior and I choked at that, and I tried to quell my laughter. Hey, it didn't effect me, and it was Professor Glynda Goodwitch, of all people, who said it. That was funny! Junior nodded to me and I pulled a larger glass, and refilled it for her.

This continued for some time. I was amazed at how much she was throwing back. It was relatively peaceful, at least until some unwelcome company arrived.

"Aw crap, not again." Junior mumbled as some men and women in white uniforms and masks entered the bar. I recognized them instantly. The White Fang. Hard not to know them at just a look, not when they're constantly on the news, and you're worried that your cousin might end up joining them.

"Look fellas, I don't mind serving you, but you're going to have to not cause trouble."

They ignored Junior completely and walked right up to the bar where Goodwitch was, sneering.

"So, it's true then. Here we have one of Beacon's most powerful Huntresses, drunk and vulnerable."

Goodwitch merely raised her head and glared at the intruders, and I laughed nervously.

"Hey guys, why don't we not start any fights that will probably end in horrifying ways, such as broken bones, fractured spines, and probably a couple dozen concussions, eh? Please?"

Evidently, they weren't impressed by my display.

"Shut up, filthy Human!"

"Yeah, you're just as bad as she is!"

"All you Huntsmen and Huntresses are the same!"

"We should take you both out!"

Apparently, those were a bad choice of words. Goodwitch slowly rose to her feet, unsteady as all get out, and chugged down the last of her drink. She then turned to the White Fang members and glared at them.

"That is MY student you're threatening, and I don't appreciate threats against my students."

They all laughed at her, and didn't even notice her pulling her riding crop out. At least, not until she sent one flying through the air and out the window. There was a loud crash outside, and the sound of a car alarm going off.

"Not again," Junior groaned, quickly taking off and ducking under cover. I wisely did the same, just sliding down behind the bar, peeking out to see what happened next.

What happened next was pandemonium. The White Fang members freaked out, pulling out various weapons and charging at her. More poured into the Club from outside. Despite all this, Goodwitch merely pushed her glasses up and waved her riding crop, sending a blast of energy that bowled several of them over.

It was a sight to behold, for both sides. For every dozen that she took out, more poured in. Did they bring a whole armada in just to deal with her?! Yet she was holding them off rather well, even when completely smashed. Hilariously enough, the music was still going, despite the DJ having long since abandoned his post.

 _"Come at me, and you'll see, I'm more than meets the eye."_

Professor Goodwitch spun around, and slapped a deer Faunus who snuck up on her across the face, sending the poor girl flying backwards. She pivoted on the spot and shot out purple tendrils from her crop, hitting some White Fang and sending them into the walls.

 _"You think that, you'll break me, you're gonna find in time, you're standing too close to a flame that's burning, hotter than the sun in the middle of July."_

Goodwitch flipped sideways through the air as a Faunus open fired on her with a gun he had procured, landing on some poor sap's back with an audible crunch, before she picked up a nearby table with her Semblance and slammed it into the man. Bottles and glasses flew through the air as she waved her crop, before raining down on the hapless Faunus, sending many to the floor, while others ran for cover.

 _"Sending out your army, but you still can't win, listen up silly boy 'cause I'm gonna tell you why~"_

I contemplated jumping in to help, but I had left my weapon back at Beacon. Plus, there was the glare that she sent my way when I started climbing over the bar that froze my blood in its veins. So I wisely stayed out of it and lowered back down behind the bar.

 _"I burn! Can't hold me now, you got nothing that can stop me! I burn! Swing all you want. Like a fever I will take you down!"_

The music ended just as Goodwitch caused a massive purple explosion, sending all White Fang members flying, up and out of the Club, which was now reduced to rubble. I looked up and over the bar to see that nothing was left standing but the bar itself. Junior and the Twins were nowhere in sight. They probably bailed while they still could.

There was the sound of a mass stampede, and I hopped out and took a peek outside to see all the White Fang members running away. Well, that was...amusing, I guess. I heard a loud "WHOO!" behind me, and I turned to see Goodwitch laughing as she sat down, bottle in hand.

"I haven't had the pleasure of cutting loose like that in a long time." She said with a satisfied sigh as she downed the bottle. I only shrugged and turned to survey the mess and hope that it wouldn't come out of my paycheck.

Then the place was flooded with light, as sirens blared outside.

* * *

I glumly sat in a small cell, handcuffed to Goodwitch, as the officers walked back and forth, taking statements and doing their work. Apparently they thought WE were the ones who wrecked the Club, and although they weren't entirely wrong, they didn't believe me when I told them it was the White Fang who attacked the Professor.

It didn't help that I was still in my work uniform, and Goodwitch was drunk as all get out, and in no position to leave a statement.

"Professor, this won't hurt my attending Beacon, will it?" I asked somewhat tentatively and she smiled at me, which was kind of scary in its own right.

"Of course not. Ozpin will clear this all up in no time."

"But...isn't he asleep right now?"

She froze, that smile still on her face.

"Professor?"

"Just a minute." She said, standing, which dragged me up with her. Seriously, why'd they cuff us together if they thought we trashed The Club?! She reached one hand out, and her riding crop flew from the desk to her hand. She gave it one wave, and the bars exploded off, smashing into the wall. The poor guards were laid out flat.

I stared in horror at what she had just done, but she wasn't content with just sitting by. She strode forward, swaying slightly, dragging me along.

"I swear, that man chooses the worse times to be difficult." She said, and I only stared at her. How was being asleep being difficult? Unless...

"Professor, what do you mean by that? Doesn't the headmaster sleep?"

"No." She said flatly, and I blink. Huh, guess you really do learn something new every day! She strode out of the building, me stumbling as I tried keeping pace with her, and waved her crop. A bullhead came flying down and we boarded, giving me no time to wonder where it came from, who was piloting it, or how they knew to land at this time.

The flight back to Beacon was thankfully quiet, with us just sitting there. Goodwitch was swaying in her seat, obviously trying to battle her tiredness and losing badly. She finally succumbed and leaned on my shoulder, her breathing light. I froze, not daring to move or even so much as breathe.

When we finally landed at Beacon's courtyard, she wouldn't wake up no matter how hard I tried, so I was forced to practically carry her into the school. At least she was stirring enough to let me know where her office was. When we got there, she lazily waved her crop and the door opened, and I stumbled inside. It's not easy walking throughout a school with an adult woman leaning heavily on you, while you're handcuffed to her!

Speaking of handcuffs, my wrist was rubbed raw from it, and my arm ached something fierce from having it bend at different angles from supporting Goodwitch as I roamed the school. I stumbled across her office, which also served as her bedroom.

It was surprisingly plain, with a simple queen sized bed in the corner, a nightstand next to it, a dresser, a small reading desk with a lamp, a large writing desk in the middle of the room, and a rug underneath it.

"Um Professor, do you have anything that we can use to either open these cuffs, or cut the chain? My wrist is dying, literally."

She mumbled something that I couldn't hear, but before I could ask her what it was, she stumbled over to her bed and flopped on it, dragging me down with her with a yelp. I tried to move, but she grabbed me and held me close to her body, mumbling all the while.

At this point, I was close to having a panic attack. Goodwitch is the scariest, sternest teacher I've ever seen, if not alive. She was completely wasted, and I had no doubts that she wouldn't remember anything from this night when she woke up in the morning.

If I didn't break these cuffs soon, I could say goodbye to my academic career, my reputation, and probably my life itself while I was at it. Because there was no way on Remnant that she would take this lightly, or even listen to my explanation.

Problem was, she was tall. At 6'5", she was an imposing figure, and I was just a teenage boy who stood at 5'9". She had a firm grip on me, and there was no way I was breaking free. As I was whimpering, seeing my future disappear before my eyes, I heard a quiet click.

Before I could wonder what that was, Goodwitch's right arm wrapped itself around my neck, and that's when I noticed it; she had used her Semblance to unlock the cuff around her wrist. I was free, at least from being chained to her, literally. Sadly, this only presented a bigger issue; now I was truly trapped.

I could hear her breathing in my ear, but couldn't turn around. Come to think of it, that was a blessing, and the only silver lining in this situation. I don't think I could handle it if I was forced to stare at her chest all night like Yang had me do. I would have died, from embarrassment, mortification, and her wrath when she woke up. That last one still had a chance of happening though.

She shifted in her sleep, and I felt her start to play with the handcuffs, fiddling with them absentmindedly while asleep. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the nightstand, and on it, her riding crop. Whether that was a good thing or not remained to be seen.

I began to grow more and more exhausted as the minutes ticked by. It had been 3:22 AM when we finally reached her office. I could only imagine what time it was now. My eyes began to close, as sleep finally won the battle, and I had one final thought before I was lost to the void.

 _I am **SO** dead when she wakes up._

* * *

 **Prompt;** _ **"** **Glynda** **holds you close to her body, playing with your handcuffs every couple of minutes. Out of the corner of your eye, you can barely see her riding crop on the nightstand"**_

 **Thoughts;** _OK, Glynda. This was fun to write, because from the get-go, I planned to do this. Yes, I purposely made her drunk for the sake of this chapter, it'd never work any other way. She's a heavy drinker, probably more so than Qrow. Watch and see, it'll be canon for sure! We also finally get to see the guy's part-time job that he mentioned back in chapter four! The song that played throughout the chapter was " **I Burn Remix (Yellow Trailer)"**._ _The full version's on YouTube, and helps set the mood.  
_

 ** _10/29/2016:_** _Came back and completely removed the OC jumping in to help Glynda fight the White Fang. Nobody wants to read that, it made him feel like a Gary Stu, and I just didn't like it._


	7. Warm Fuzzy Hugs

**Chapter Seven**

* * *

It had been an odd couple of days for me, after the night at The Club. When I had woke up in Professor Goodwitch's bed, with her already awake and moving about, I about near had a heart attack. I thought for sure I was going to be expelled, have my reputation shattered, family undoubtedly shamed, and probably end up in prison with a large man called Peaches as my roommate.

But that didn't happen. Turns out she remembered everything that happened that night, despite the raging hangover she had, and assured me that I wasn't going to be expelled or worse. She did, however, make it clear that I wasn't to speak about this to anyone, and I can't blame her. If word got out that I slept with Professor Glynda Goodwitch, INNOCENTLY, then both our reputations would be shattered. Frankly, I could do without people talking about her to begin with.

After that, there was some breach that happened in Vale. Grimm apparently got in, but a few teams from Beacon and Atlas' robots drove them off. After THAT, Ozpin called me to his office, where Goodwitch was already sitting down in front of his desk, and decided to play a game of " _Make the poor boy nervous and uncomfortable, before I tell him that he's not expelled_ ". It was not fun. He then proceeded to send both Professor Goodwitch and I a photo of us from that night! How he got it, I'll never know.

The photo showed Professor Goodwitch and I asleep in her bed. The handcuffs were still attached to my left wrist, and Goodwitch's arms were firmly wrapped around me, like I was a body pillow or something. It was the only time I'd ever seen such a gentle expression on her face.

After all that, I decided to stay as far away from everyone else for a while. I did my own homework alone, I did assignments alone, and I only sparred with others when it was during Professor Goodwitch's class. I was not going to risk another situation like the ones I'd already found myself in, no sir!

I continued like this for exactly three days, before the inevitable happened. It had started out so innocent too.

I was in town with Team RWBY. Blake was finally picking out an earring for me. Well, to be more precise, Yang had somehow talked her into doing it, and the rest of RWBY just tagged along for the ride. Probably so Yang could mock us endlessly.

From there, it turned into all four girls picking out earrings for me. How and why are both beyond my understanding. In fact, at this point I've stopped trying to understand it and just let it happen.

"Oooh, how about this one?" Yang asked, walking over to me and holding up a glittering yellow drop earring. I sat there on a stool, arms crossed, pouting. Yes, **pouting**. Why? Oh, it's simple really. The question could be answered as the girls brought every earring in the store and attached it to my ear. Even Weiss and Blake were getting in on it!

"Girls, please, do I **LOOK** like a doll to be dressed up? Do I even get any say in this?"

"Nope!" They chorused back at me, and I sighed and slumped back down. Then the bell of the store dinged as someone entered. I didn't bother to see who it was, but apparently Ruby noticed, because I heard her cry out in joy.

"Velvet!"

I looked up to see that it was indeed Velvet, who I hadn't seen since that time in the library. She was with another girl and two boys, one being Fox Alistair that I saw around earlier this year, and I assumed it was her team.

"Oh, hello," she said cheerfully, smiling brightly, "What are you guys doing here?"

They explained the situation, much to Blake's embarrassment, and gestured towards me, where I still sat, pouting resolutely.

"Oh! Well Coco here is great with fashion," Velvet said, nodding to the girl in the beret beside her, "She could help!"

They both walked up to me, and I greeted Velvet while the other girl, Coco, looked on.

"How are you doing?" Velvet asked me and I shrugged.

"I've admittedly been better. What about you? Has Cardin or anyone been bothering you?"

"Uh-uh, I've had my team here to look out for me."

"So," Coco finally said, looking me up and down, pulling her shades down to look at me, "So, you're the first year who helped Velvet a while back. Hmmm..."

I really didn't like the way she was scrutinizing me. She then whipped around and walked through the aisles, heels clacking against the floor. She came back a few minutes later with a single silver stud earring.

"Here, this will work. If you're going to do **any** accessorizing, make sure it matches."

She walked over to me and I flinched, but all she did was slip the earring through the hole. She then stepped back, looking quite pleased with herself, and admired her handiwork.

"Huh, she's right." Yang commented, tilting her head.

"Damn straight I'm right." Coco replied smugly, before nudging Velvet. She glances at Coco in alarm, and the other woman nods her head towards me. Oh this can't be good.

"Um, I wanted to thank you, for helping me out that one day in the library. I never got the chance to."

"I was just happy to do something." I replied, and we both fell silent. Coco sighed and ribbed Velvet again, and she walked forward a bit.

"Um, right, I wanted to know if you..wanted to take a walk with me? Well...I want to thank you properly for it."

Oh God, is she trying to suggest what I think she is? No, no it's not like that. She's an upperclassman, she just wants to thank me. I really needed to stop getting these ridiculous thoughts in my head.

While I figured out she just wanted to thank me, apparently Yang had other thoughts. Because of course Yang would think otherwise.

"Ohhhhh," she said with a large knowing grin, "We should get out of your hair then. C'mon girls, let's give them some _space_."

I rolled my eyes at her emphasis on the word space and watched them file out, Weiss surprisingly paying for the earring, despite the fact I was going to buy it.

"Don't stay out too late, kids." Coco said with a smirk before turning and...what was the word? Sashaying out the door with the two guys that made up their team following her.

"Uh...OK?" I said, a bit dumbfounded. Velvet smiled nervously, and I sighed. Well, hopefully rumors don't go flying around.

* * *

"So, I just want to get right to the point and be clear, no matter what Yang or the others think, this is not a date, right?"

"Of course not! I just wanted to thank you in private for helping me that day, and maybe do something to repay you."

"Glad to know I was right."

We were both sitting at an outdoor cafe, chatting with each other. She had insisted on getting me lunch as thanks for when I stood up to Cardin for her, despite the fact that I had told her that me doing the right thing didn't warrant any thanks or reward of any kind, but she wouldn't listen.

She's pretty stubborn like that it seems.

"Velvet, I've been wondering something, and I hope you don't mind me asking, but back when Cardin was bullying you, why didn't you fight back, or do something? You're a second-year, you could beat him easily. So why did you let him demean you like that?"

Velvet put down her teacup and sighed.

"It's not that simple," she said wearily, "As a second-year student, I'm supposed to be an example to you first-years. Yes, I could beat him senseless, but what would I accomplish? Besides that, I'm also a Faunus. If people saw an upperclassman, and a Faunus to boot, beating up a new student, what kind of message would that send? We Faunus are treated badly enough as it is, I don't want to make things worse by retaliating over something as minor as a first-year bully."

"I don't like that," I grumbled, "That doesn't mean you should just take harassment like that. What do students think if they see an upperclassman not doing anything to defend herself?"

"That's sweet of you," Velvet said as she covered one of my hands, "But remember, I am a second-year for a reason. I choose to not do anything because I don't want to hurt him, and because I can be the better person that way."

I still wasn't convinced, and I sure as hell didn't like her reasoning, but I couldn't do much about it, especially since she was so adamant about it.

"Besides," she continued, a smile growing on her face, "I'm not alone. When Coco found out about what happened, it was all I could do to stop her from going over there and beating them down single-handily. It was even worse when my partner, Yatsuhashi, heard what happened."

"What'd he do?" I asked, and she laughed.

"He gave them a stern talking to."

 _Wait, what?_

"Wait, what?" I echoed my thoughts out loud, staring at her in confusion.

"Yatsuhashi doesn't get angry easily. What he does do, however, is reprimand others. In detail. With a lot of advice on just how to fix your own shortcomings, and he'll list them. In detail. Honestly, the beating would have been better, at least it would be quick and the pain was not only physical, but temporary. I don't think they'll ever get Yatsuhashi's lesson out of their heads."

I winced and she laughed. It was odd, hearing her laugh so cheerfully. Most of the time she was solemn, so this was a completely different side. Of course, I didn't actually see her much to begin with, so yeah.

"I heard you like to draw as a hobby." She said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Uh, yeah. I haven't been able to do much of it lately, but I enjoy it. Why?"

"Oh, nothing. It's good to see underclassmen having hobbies. With our line of work, it's good to have something to occupy yourself with in your free time. For example, I like taking pictures."

"Really?" I asked, and she nodded enthusiastically, pulling her camera out and showing me it.

"Yeah! It's fun, seeing what types of pictures I can get. This camera's custom made, by myself in fact. The lens here allow me to-"

She continued on for a bit, gushing over her camera while I listened patiently with a smile. I'll be honest, it was adorable. After seeing her bullied, it was very refreshing to see her actually happy. Plus she was just plain adorable, with her doe eyes and bunny ears.

 _OK mate, reign it in, you're being creepy._

We continued to chat for a bit before getting up and preparing to leave, when we were approached by some people.

"Excuse us, you're both from Beacon Academy, right? Huntsman and Huntress?"

We both looked at each other and shrugged, and Velvet stepped forward.

"We're in training, but yes, we're from Beacon. Do you need something?"

"Well, we're in a bit of a bind and could use help. Our store was completely destroyed during the breach, and we're still moving food around to prevent it from spoiling, and we were wondering if we could get a few Huntsmen and Huntresses to help us."

"Sure, we'd love to help." Velvet said cheerfully, and I shrugged casually. I honestly didn't have anything better to do, so why not?

"Great! Please, follow us."

"Should we call the others?" I asked her, and she shook her head.

"I think we can do it ourselves. They've been busy, and I wouldn't want to bother them with something small like this."

With that she walked off, following the people, and I followed after.

* * *

Moving food around and shelving it was more of a time consumer than I had originally thought. I had underestimated just how much there would be, and by now I was sure Velvet was regretting not calling Teams RWBY and CFVY over to help.

That is, if the girl wasn't surprisingly strong! Seriously, she's so petite, how was she able to lift twice her weight?! I was beginning to lose confidence in myself as a guy!

I picked up a large cooler full of...something, and slowly made my way to the back of the building we were at. It was heavy, but I wasn't going to complain or have Velvet move it. I was a man, dammit, and I was going to pull my own weight!

"Hey, this is the last item to be moved, where does it go?" I asked the guy in charge of moving everything, and he looked up from his notepad and pointed to the back of the building with his pen.

"In the far back, in the walk-in freezer. Careful for the door, it can slam shut easily and locks automatically. If you get stuck in there, you won't be getting out without someone opening it."

"Good to know." I groaned, and carried the chest back there. It took a good six minutes just to reach the thing, and boy was it huge. The freezer, true to its name, was **cold**. Like, really cold! I could literally feel the chill air right down to my bones, and began shivering. I needed to hurry up, put it down, and get out of there.

 **SLAM!**

That...did not sound good, and I felt my blood freeze over, and not from the air. I ran to the front of the freezer only to find the door slammed shut.

"Hey," I yelled, banging my fist against the door, "I'm still inside here! Hello?!"

I continued hitting the door and yelling like a lunatic for a few minutes, but no one showed up. I groaned and slumped forward, my head resting on the door.

It never failed. It just never. Failed. If something bad could happen, it happened to me. **Every. Single. Time.**

I sat on a nearby chest and rubbed my arms. Man was it cold! I was regretting dressing casually today, but I hadn't taken into account that I'd be stuck in a freezer! It was so nice and warm out that day too...

I'm not sure how long I sat there, freezing my rear off, but Velvet must have wondered where I disappeared to, because the next thing I knew, the door was opening, and Velvet came peeking in, then rushing over to where I sat in a hurry.

"Are you OK?!" She asked me, kneeling down and gripping my shoulders. The cold must have dulled my reaction time, because it took me a few seconds to register that she was right in front of me, then my eyes widened.

"Oh crap, the door!" I yelped, surprising her as I turned to it. But I was too slow, and the wretched thing slammed shut once again, locking us in.

Now we were both stuck in there, with no way out, and I wasn't sure if the other workers knew we were back here. I explained the situation to Velvet, and asked if anyone would be coming for us and she laughed nervously, scratching her head.

"Um, not...really. We were finishing up out in front, and I didn't see you, so I asked the manager and he said the last time he saw you was when you were carrying a cooler back here. The others were beginning to leave when I came to find you."

"Fantastic." I groaned, shivering and moving in place, rubbing my arms in an effort to stay warm.

"Don't worry, I have my scroll, I'll just call Coco and see if she can get us out."

True to her word, she did have her scroll, and did call her leader. I could hear her laughter even through the small speaker.

"Right, she's on her way," Velvet said, closing out her scroll, "At most we'll have to wait maybe twenty minutes before she gets here."

"G-g-great." I said, teeth chattering, drawing a concerned look from the older student.

"Are you OK?" She asked me, and I went to nod, before deciding to just be truthful, and shook my head.

"H-h-how are you n-not cold?" I asked her, looking her up and down. All she had was her combat suit on, unless...

"Oh, well, besides my combat suit being warm, my ears help relegate heat and cool air."

Of course. You know, life just wasn't fair.

Velvet continued to look at me in concern, before standing up and walking over to me. Before I could ask what she was doing, she wrapped her arms around my chest and drew me close to her body, shutting down my thoughts in the process.

"V-V-Velvet?!" I squeaked out, and she simply shushed me, and I felt her ears wrap around my neck, like a fuzzy scarf. I didn't even know they could move like that.

"I'm preventing you from freezing," she said from my neck, "As an upperclassman, it's my duty to not only be an example for you younger students, but to do my best to help you as well."

I stood there awkwardly as she tightened her hold on me. I almost, _almost_ wrapped my arms around her, but wisely decided not to follow through with it.

"Besides," she said, much quieter now, "This is my thanks to you, for standing up for me that day. It means a lot to me when there are people still willing to stand by the Faunus. So thank you."

Twenty minutes, eh? I...guess it maybe won't be too bad, possibly? I wouldn't freeze to death, that's for sure. Hesitantly, VERY hesitantly mind you, I returned her hug, burying my face in her neck, even as I heard her hum happily.

"I'm always happy to stand up for a friend in need." I said quietly as we stood there, sharing body heat.

* * *

 **Prompt;** _ **"Velvet wraps her arms around your chest and her ears around your neck, like a furry brown scarf"**_

 **Thoughts;** _THE INNOCENT CINNAMON BUN HAS HER CHAPTER FINALLY. Our OC finally got that earring he mentioned in chapter four, and of course Coco would pick the right one out. So, sweet little Velvet! I always wondered why she didn't stand up for herself, storywise, especially since she's a second-year, so I created my own excuse. It's as good as any._


	8. A Chocolatey Date

**Chapter Eight**

* * *

It had only been a little over twenty minutes since Velvet decided to wrap her arms and ears around me to keep me warm while we were stuck inside a large walk-in freezer, but it felt a lot longer than that. I'll be honest, this was the first time I was actually **hugging** a girl _(that time with Yang does not count, I was not aware of what I was doing at the time, and I'm still mortified over it)_ and I was slightly nervous.

It was because of this, and the fact that I was warm, that I lost track of time. So I think I can be forgiven for leaping away in fright when the freezer door was slammed open, from the outside, and Yang and Coco strolled in like it was a walk in the park.

"See? I told you that it was on purpose that they were _'locked in'_ ," Yang said with a huge knowing grin, making air quotation marks with her fingers when she said locked in, "I gotta be honest, I didn't expect you to go from Cuddlebug to Ladies Man."

"It was absolutely most definitely NOT that." I said very firmly, face red, which I later firmly denied being out of embarrassment and more from the cold.

"Actually, he's right," Velvet said calmly, "I did that to keep him warm while we waited for Coco to come help us out. As an upperclassman, it's a second-year's job to help you younger students out."

"Well, that's no fun." Yang said, pouting, but she dropped the subject then and there, and I swear, I could have cried right then and there and hugged Velvet. For the first time ever, someone was able to diffuse Yang's lewd imagination calmly, and immediately.

Coco, all the while, had been staring at me thoughtfully. I couldn't see her eyes behind those shades of hers, so I had no idea what her expression was, but I could only hope that she believed Velvet and I.

"You," she said suddenly, pointing at me and making me jump, "Come with me."

I looked at Velvet and Yang nervously, but they both shrugged, so I followed the older woman, hoping she wasn't going to kill me for what happened in the freezer.

Once we were a short distance away from the other two, she turned around and looked at me, one hand on her hip.

"So, I've been hearing rumors about you, and from what Yang's told me, you've been getting pretty popular with the ladies at Beacon recently. Seeing you and Velvet snuggled up like that confirmed them."

"W-wait a minute!" I said, backing up a bit rather quickly, hands out in front of me, "I swear, none of the situations you've heard have been on purpose, and I did **not** cause any of them!"

"Oh? Next you'll be denying the fact that you enjoyed them."

 **". . ."**

"Wow." Coco just stared at me, as though shocked that there actually existed a guy who WASN'T comfortable with girls just grabbing him out of nowhere every now and again.

"Yeah, well forgive me for trying to be a decent person, having morals, and not controlled by my hormones." I said somewhat defensively.

"Huh, so what was said about you actually is true. Colour me impressed. Well, that's it, you're meeting me tomorrow for a date."

"Wait, what?!" I spluttered, not sure I heard correctly, "D-did you just say a date?!"

"Sure did, honey."

I stood there, mouth agape, staring at her. What was with this woman?! She walked over to me and closed my mouth, smirking.

"Tomorrow, 10 AM, here in Vale at the coffee shop. Don't be late, and dress fashionably, won't you?"

With that she sashayed off, swinging her hips as she went. I stood there, dumbfounded for a minute, before shaking my head and giving voice to my thoughts.

"What the hell?!"

* * *

Back at Beacon, I was yet again accosted by Yang and dumped unceremoniously in Team RWBY's dorm. At this point I was used to this and just sighed as I was plopped onto the floor in the middle of the room.

"So, you and Coco eh?" Yang said, grinning widely, "Spill it, loverboy. When did this happen and how?"

I rolled my eyes, something I picked up from Blake and Weiss when hanging around Yang, and sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Nothing happened, I'm just as surprised as you are. Hell, today was the first day I met her! I have no idea where this _'date_ ' came from, or why it's even happening!"

"But you're looking forward to it, right?" Yang persisted, and I shook my head firmly.

"No, actually, I'm not. I don't know the woman, I have no idea why she just dumped a date on me, and frankly, I'm not up for it."

Yang crossed her arms and pouted, and Ruby took this opportunity to speak up, from her bunk.

"Are you going to date her? Are you two going to become boyfriend and girlfriend?"

 _Become the boyfriend of Coco?_

I shuddered at the thought and shook my head, crossing my arms out in front of me like an X.

"Absolutely not. I think I've said this before, but I'm here at Beacon to become a Huntsman, not find love. I'm just not interested, period."

Ruby frowned but said nothing, and I sighed, yet again.

"I'm probably not going to go. I have no interest in any dates, and I've got other things that I could do."

"I wouldn't recommend it," Blake spoke up this time, looking up from one of her...ahem, _"romance"_ novels, "Coco doesn't like being stood up, or kept waiting. Not showing up would make matters worse for you. That and she has a massive minigun as a weapon. Which she's not afraid to use. Especially on guys."

I just stared at Blake while the information she gave me resounded within my head, and then slammed said head onto the floor with a groan.

"You've got to be kidding me," I mumbled from where I lay, not bothering to get up, "That's just...no, just no."

"Well, looks like you've got a date to keep!" Yang sang out cheerfully from above me, and I groaned again. Why does this happen to me? Does some deity hate me or something?!

"You're making a big deal out of something minor for nothing." Weiss said from my right, and I slowly turned my head so my cheek was facing the floor and glared at her.

"Says the girl who kept being courted by Jaune." I deadpanned.

"W-well that was different! I didn't ask to be courted, he was being a nuisance, and most guys who try and court me are only after my family name!"

"As opposed to me being forced on a date by a second-year Huntress in training, who I've never met before, who claimed to have heard those rumors about me, and probably only wants to date me because of them."

"Oh..." Weiss simply said, finally getting it, and I sighed once more.

"I'm not going to be able to get out of this, aren't I?"

"Nope!" Yang said brightly from above, and I slowly got up.

"Ugh, might as well go pass out now then, so I can be up early to face my immediate doom tomorrow."

"Get pictures for us!" Yang cackled as I left. Yeah, right.

* * *

Today was the day, and I honestly wasn't looking forward to it. I sighed yet again (I'd been doing it a lot lately) and looked at my reflection in a window.

I was wearing a light grey T-shirt underneath a small black and silver jacket, with black jeans. My hair was also done up in a long ponytail, courtesy of Yang. I wasn't a fan of the look, but Weiss and Yang assured me that Coco would approve.

Oh yeah, they picked my outfit out for me. Something about knowing more about fashion than I did.

Hmph, they just didn't like my blue floral patterned shirt.

The sunlight glinted off my earring, which I wound up wearing at their insistence, and I sighed once more. I looked like some guy right out of a biker gang, and I didn't like it. This was why I stuck to my student uniform, the uniform from The Club, and extremely casual clothing that was loose fitting and comfortable. I didn't like standing out, and this outfit certainly wasn't for blending in with the crowd.

"Hey there," a voice said from behind me and I turned to see Coco standing there, dressed in her outfit from before, looking me up and down, "Hmm, not bad. Loving the new digs. At least you have fashion."

She then walked up to me and pulled a pair of shades out of a pocket, and put them on my face.

"There, much better. I like my boys bad."

"Really?" I deadpanned, and she ignored me, slipping her arm through mine and drawing me close to her body. We were not a matching pair, what with her being 6'2" and me being 5'9". It was awkward, since she easily stood taller than me.

"Come on, we've got shopping to do!"

I rolled my eyes behind my newly acquired shades and followed her down the street so she wouldn't pull my arm out of its socket. We traveled a bit until we reached a clothing store, and Coco had me wait outside. I stood there, bored, and then my day got stranger.

"Sal-u-TATIONS!"

I slowly turned around to see a girl with orange hair and a pink boy on her head. She wore an old-fashioned blouse with short feminine overalls, as well as a black and green collar with a matching pair of stockings. She also stared at me, unblinking, a large smile on her face.

"Uh, salutations?" I said hesitantly, and the girl stared at me for a moment, shock on her face. I looked at her nervously, wondering just what was up with her, when she grinned again.

"Sen-SATIONAL," she said suddenly, making me jump, "I have always greeted people around me like that, but you're the first person to greet me back in the same way!"

"Uh, OK?" I said, and the girl moved closer, grabbing my hands and gripping them rather tightly, completely all up in my personal space.

"My name is Penny Polendina! Would you like to, as they say, become buddies?"

"Uhhhh...suuuure?"

 _Coco, I changed my mind! Please come back and save me from the scary girl!_

"Oh this is fan-TASTIC! I am, as they say, on a roll! Tell me friend, what is your name?"

I hesitantly introduced myself to her, and her eyes widened upon hearing my name, and she gasped.

"So YOU'RE him," she said excitedly, "I have heard much about you from my dear friend, Ruby! You two are friends too, yes?"

"Yeah-wait, you know Ruby?"

"Of course! She is, as they're called, my best friend, and my first one!"

 _And suddenly, everything makes that much more sense._

Before anything else could be said, two haggard looking Atlas soldiers came running up, gasping for breath.

"Penny," the one in red said once he caught his breath, "Please, don't wander off like that again."

"My sincere apologies," Penny said, before turning back to me, "I will see you later, friend!"

"Y-yeah, sure." I said, and they left as suddenly as the came.

 _What...just happened?_

I stood there for a moment, blinking, when Coco finally returned, three shopping bags in her arms.

"What a gentlemen you are, willing to take my bags for me!" She said cheerfully, looping them around one arm. I suppressed a sigh and decided to just accept my fate. I wasn't sure what was worse, a date with Coco or a conversation with Penny.

"Well, let's go, there's more stores I want to visit."

She once again looped her arm through mine and hung on tightly as we walked down the street.

 _"Dude,"_ my treacherous inner thoughts that were obviously influenced by Yang said, _"Just enjoy it for what it is. You get to go on a date with an, admittedly, hot upperclassman who's got style. Stop being stubborn and just enjoy yourself!"_

I glanced at Coco out of the corner of my eye, glad for once that I was wearing shades. She looked content, swinging her hips so they bumped against my own from time to time, and she wasn't THAT bad to look at. So what was my problem?

Well, that was simple to answer; I just wasn't interested. But fat chance I was going to try and leave now. Best to just get this day done and over with, and tell her straight afterwards.

We continued visiting shops, with Coco buying a lot of stuff that I had no idea what it all was. The girl bought a LOT of clothes too. Like, seriously, do girls really need that many outfits? Does she even WEAR any of those?!

Hours passed, and we eventually we sat down for dinner at a cafe, and Coco surprisingly paid for it.

"So, tell me more about yourself," she said, leaning over the table to look at me, tilting her shades down in the process, "What's your family like, what do **you** like, hopes and dreams, why are you attending Beacon, all of it."

"Uhh, why?" I asked, doing my best not to lean away from her.

"What, a girl can't get to know her date a bit better? Is it really so strange that a girl's showing interest in you and wants to know more about you?"

"Fine," I sighed, rubbing my eyes, "But I warn you, there is nothing interesting about me whatsoever."

I then talked about my family, and the ties we had with the Faunus. I told her why I was attending Beacon, the circumstances that led to me having no partner or team, and why I was dedicated to being a Huntsman. I made sure to include the part where I wasn't interested in falling in love as well, hoping she'd take the not-so-subtle hint.

When I was done, she looked at me curiously, and leaned back.

"I see. So, tell me something, when you helped Velvet that day in the library, was it because you have Faunus as family members? Or was there another reason for it?"

"A bit of both, actually. Yes, I was quick to act because it brought back bad memories of my cousin being harassed, but I also did it because I just don't like racism, or bullies. Plenty of people are like that."

"True," she said, leaning forward again, "But rarely has anybody actually stepped **up** and did something about it. By any chance, did Velvet ever tell you just why she doesn't fight back?"

"Yes, she has. She doesn't defend herself because not only is she a Faunus and trying to improve their image, but because she's an upperclassman, and has to set an example for everyone else."

"That's it," Coco said, taking a drink from her soda, "And what do you think about her reasoning?"

I leaned back in my chair and looked at the sky, thinking for a moment before answering.

"I can't agree with it," I finally said, still staring at the sky, "Regardless if she's a Faunus, or a second-year, that doesn't mean she should just accept harassment like that. Very few students at Beacon would think badly about her if she beat up Cardin and his gang. In fact, I think other second-years and older would wonder why she didn't do anything."

"Exactly," Coco said, snapping her fingers and leaning forward again, pulling me towards her so our noses were almost touching, "I've told her something similar to that. I've even offered to take care of the issue myself, but she's always refused, and do you know why?"

"I don't, why?" I asked, somehow suddenly not bothered literally being in another girl's face.

"It's because she's too kind for her own good. She's too pure, too willing to accept the harassment and look past it."

She released me and leaned back with a sigh.

"Honestly, that girl gets herself into trouble too many times to count, and I want to help her. I'm her leader for God's sake, it's my duty and obligation! But she never asks me for help. She won't go to Fox or Yatsuhashi either, and it's killing the big guy that he can't always protect her, and he cares for her greatly! It's just so...frustrating!"

"I know how you feel. I have a friend who's similar, in that she doesn't always come to her friends with her problems and tries to solve them on her own."

"I know, right?!" Coco said, grabbing my hands in hers, "Why can't they just trust us enough to let us help them?!"

We talked a bit more, and I found myself opening up a bit to her. She wasn't what I originally thought she was like. I found out her last name was Adel, and she was just as caring a person as Ruby was, and just as motherly to her team as Yang was!

We finally finished our dinner, and it was getting dark. Glancing at my scroll, I looked at the time, only to realize that we had missed our chance to reach the Bullheads to get back to Beacon. I groaned and relayed the information to her, but she just grinned.

"That's alright, I already had plans anyway. Come on!"

She took my hand in hers and dragged me along as I tried to keep up with her. Soon we came to a hotel, and I just stared at her incredulously.

We entered it and she walked up to the receptionist.

"Hi, I have a room reserved for one Coco Adel and Guest, is it still available?"

"Yes, it is. May I see your ID?"

Coco showed the lady her scroll and the woman ran the code through the database.

"Alright, everything checks out. Here is your key. Please enjoy your night, and have fun!"

"Wait, have _fun?"_ I asked, staring hard at Coco, who just grinned and pulled me up the stairs.

"C'mon, less questions, more walking. You'll see when we get there."

We reached the room and Coco unlocked the door and opened it, before pulling me in and shutting it. The room was nothing too fancy, though still high-class. There was a separate room that was undoubtedly the bathroom, a TV on the side, a side desk, and a single double-wide bed.

 _Wait a minute._

"Coco," I said slowly, turning to look at her, "Do you mind explaining?"

The older girl looked at me, and shrugged.

"Sure, why not. Sit down for a minute though, I need to check and see if my choices were right."

Confused, I slowly sat on the bed, as she began to pull out male clothing and give them a critical eye, before holding them up against me.

"Not bad, not bad. Looks like I was right once again. Damn, do I have good taste."

I sighed and my right knee began bouncing up and down, a sign that I was getting agitated or impatient. Coco pointedly ignored me and continued holding shirts up to me, or laying pants down on my legs, examining me. When she was satisfied, she put the clothes back in the bags and handed me half of them.

"There you go, those are all for you. You'll find some other things in there as well, like accessories and whatnot to give your appearance a boost."

"Uhh, thank...you?" I said in confusion, and Coco finally cracked a grin, a genuine smile, at me.

"You still don't get it, do you? The date, the gifts, the food, even this room, it's all my way of thanking you myself, personally."

"Thanking me? For what, and why?"

Her grin slowly melted away and she sat on the bed right next to me, looking me right in the eyes.

"For doing something others didn't do, something I was unable to do. For standing up for Velvet and confronting the situation when it happened. For just being there for my friend and teammate when it wasn't your problem."

 _Ohhhhhh._

I smiled for the first time that day, and shook my head.

"Coco, you didn't have to thank me, especially in this way. There are other students who have stood up for Velvet too. Jaune Arc, of Team JNPR? He's the first one who stood up to Cardin and made him back off. I'm not the only student who'd do the right thing."

"And I'll be sure to thank them myself later too. However, there's another reason why I went through all this trouble."

"Eh?"

She smiled and shifted closer, and I began to get uncomfortable again.

"See, I've heard the rumors about you alright. Yang likes to talk, a lot, and you're at the front of every joke she makes. You're an interesting guy. You've got girls wanting to snuggle up to you, and you complain about it or express displeasure. Not many do that. Furthermore, Velvet spoke highly of you yesterday, after we got you two out of that freezer. So my interest, which was already peaked when I first met you, rocketed after that.

So, I decided to put you to the test. I thought up this date to see if you were the guy everyone said you were, and you passed with flying colours. Sure, you were reluctant, but you carried my bags with little complaints and let me drag you around all day."

I stared at her, dumbfounded.

"So, this whole time, this entire date wasn't real? You were just testing me?"

"Yep," she grinned, "Well, the date was real, because I certainly had fun, and achieved what I set out to do. Plus I got some nice new clothes out of it, so it was a win-win for me."

"So," I said slowly, looking at her seriously, "Just to make sure there's no misunderstandings or hidden agendas, you're not interested in me in **that** way?"

Coco laughed and pushed me over, holding her sides.

"Oh that's rich! That's just adorable! You are just too cute, freshman! Were you thinking about that all day?"

"Maybe," I grumbled from the floor, slowly standing up, "I was worried you might actually start to have feelings for me or something, or worse, just wanted to date me because you thought I was a _'ladies man'_. I'm more than happy to realize I was wrong."

Coco looked at me thoughtfully for a minute, before taking off her beret and removing her shades from her shirt, and put them on the nightstand by the bed.

"You know," she said slowly, removing her boots as I watched her wearily, praying she wasn't doing what I thought she was doing, "I took the liberty of talking with Team RWBY about you. I heard you were quite the warm body to snuggle up to during the night. Velvet even mentioned it when she was _keeping you warm_ yesterday."

She was eyeing me like a predator now, and I realized just where she was going with this. I leaped away from the bed and took up my fighting stance, one hand opened in front of me, the other just slightly in line to my chest, palms open outward like claws.

"Even more interesting was a rumor I heard floating around the teachers," she said slowly, standing up and sashaying towards me, "Rumors of how you and a certain stern teacher passed out in her room the night everyone left for their missions. Now isn't that interesting?"

"Haha-No," I said flatly, backing up as she got closer, "Coco, I must warn you now, I am not doing this yet again. I am not everybody's personal body pillow, and if I have to fight you for my freedom, than I will, but I won't be responsible for any damage I do."

She stopped at that, and laughed, doubling over and holding her sides.

"Oh my God, you are just too adorable! This is really too much! _'Fight for your freedom'_? _'Damage me'_?"

She sighed and wiped away tears of mirth and stood up, fixing me with a look.

"Kid, let me be the first to show you personally just why I'm a second-year, and you're a first-year, and just how vast the difference between us is."

She lunged at me. I leaped at her.

Long story short, I lost.

Badly.

Dazed, I found myself lying on the bed, stars, berets, and shades floating around my head. I don't even know what happened, much less how she defeated me, but I was stripped of my coat and shoes, and my ponytail was undone. Before I could move, Coco flopped herself down on top of my, driving the breath from my lungs.

She may look dainty, but the girl's got some weight to her, and easily pinned me down underneath her. Thank God she still wore her clothes, albeit shoes, shades, beret, and beads.

I groaned and tried to move, but couldn't. Above me, Coco was already passed out, hair in my face. It didn't help that she was taller than me. I tried to wriggle even a little, but had no success. She got me good.

I sighed as I surveyed my situation. She was sprawled out on top of me, and I could smell her perfume. I hated to admit it, and still do to this day, but the weight of her body atop me, and the perfume, calmed me, and I felt secure, like I was safe and no harm could ever be done to me.

 _Is it because she's older and taller than I am, or am I just finally getting used to these situations happening to me?_

I couldn't tell for sure, and probably never will. I resigned myself to my fate for the night, and closed my eyes as I felt her arms close around me.

 _Dammit, these girls are all impossible._

* * *

 **Prompt;** _ **"Coco sprawls out on top of you, her body weight and expensive perfume feeling oddly secure"**_

 **Thoughts;** _I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this chapter, for one simple reason: I cannot do romance or write out dates, even if the romance and date are faked. I just can't. So I'll apologize here and now if this chapter fails to meet expectations. I probably could have done the chapter better, but I wanted to follow up the last one with this one, and make it as thanks for helping Velvet. I just hate how it makes the OC seem "special", when he's far from it. No, Coco isn't romantically interested in him.  
_

 _Also, writing Penny out was a **LOT** of fun, and is probably the only highlight of the chapter. I do like their conversation about Velvet though, that's probably the one part that feels natural. Well, that and **Penny**!  
_

 _Oh, and our beloved OC likes Hawaiian shirts. Go figure._


	9. Emeralds In A Shed

**Chapter Nine  
**

 _New logo now, just to make it fit better, and only because I literally have nothing else that I could use for the fic. If I could actually **draw,** I'd whip up one of the scenarios in the fic for the cover image. Until then, enjoy the crappy edit, lol.  
_

* * *

I woke up with my body feeling like lead. I blinked sleep away from my eyes and looked at the person laying on top of me.

Yep, Coco was still there, passed out on top of me. Her mouth was open a little, and whenever she would breath out, her breath would be right on my face. It smelled sweet, though I wasn't going to even try guessing what it was. I did not need to be thinking about my unwanted bed companion's breath, because that would lead to other, worse thoughts.

No thank you.

I groaned and stretched one arm out to grab my scroll, and looked at the time. 4:12 AM. Way too damn early for me to be awake. I tried once again to slip out from underneath Coco, but failed. It was a miracle that she had managed to stay on top of me like that all night, too.

Coco shifted in her sleep, and hooked one of her legs around my own, causing me to sigh in irritation. She mumbled something about skinny pillows, which I took as a personal insult, and somehow **INCREASED** her weight on me, before going quiet.

I sighed yet again and decided that if I couldn't escape, I might as well go back to sleep. Not much else to do, anyway. I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing, feeling a calm wash over me.

 _Dammit Coco, why does this have to be so comfortable?! I don't **want** to enjoy this!_

* * *

Hours had passed by when I woke up again. Coco was still laying on me, but her breathing was lighter, meaning she was either just waking up, or was awake and just didn't want to open her eyes.

"Coco, are you awake?" I said quietly, and the girl above me groaned, opening her eyes and lifting her head ever so slightly to look at me.

"Unfortunately, yes, I am. And I was so comfortable too."

She laid her head back down, which was by my neck, and wrapped her arms around me, squeezing me so I couldn't get away. Seeing as I couldn't move my arms anymore, I strained to see if there was a clock nearby.

"Coco, what time is it?" I asked, and the older girl groaned again.

"It's half past ten." She mumbled near my neck, and my eyes widened.

"Coco, we have classes to attend to! We're late!"

"It's fine," she mumbled, not even bothering to move, "Classes don't start until later today, due to the Vytal Festival coming up. Go back to sleep."

"Right, let's try this again," I sighed, staring at the ceiling, "Good morning, Coco Adel. I would like to get up now and go back to Beacon, as I have things I want to do today. Mind getting off me?"

"Fine," Coco sighed in disappointment, shifting on top of my so her forehead rested atop my own, staring right into my eyes, "You're a real party pooper, you know that?"

"I'm sure I am." I replied dryly, waiting for her to get up, but she didn't. She just kept looking at me with an expression on her face that I couldn't quite read.

"Tell me something, are you comfortable?" She asked me, and I blinked. Comfortable? In this position? With her lying on top of me all night?

Well...now that I thought about it, yes. I don't know why, but I was, and truthfully, I didn't **want** to get up.

But there's no way in hell I'd tell her that!

Instead, I opted to just stare at her in a deadpan expression, and she sighed, and shook her head.

"Fine, be that way." she said, shifting again. She turned my head to the side, and rested hers on mine, so our cheeks were touching.

"What are you doing?" I asked, slightly irritated, and in response, she pulled out her scroll and faced it towards us.

"Every date needs a few pictures!" She said cheerfully, grinning and snapping away while I spluttered indignantly. After she was done, she sat up and stretched, arms over her head, a satisfied smile on her face.

"You know, the rumors I heard were right. You ARE a great sleeping companion! That was the best sleep I've had in a long time."

"Glad I could help," I grumbled sarcastically, "Could you get off of me now?"

"So charming too." She snarked back, smirking as she got up, and I immediately rolled in the other direction and off the bed, standing and cracking my neck. It was so stiff!

"You know, this wasn't too bad," Coco said, strapping on all her bullets, "I had some fun, and you know, it was nice getting to know you. Your fashion sense isn't half bad either."

"Eh," I replied, "I didn't choose this outfit, Yang and Weiss did."

"Hm, pity."

Once we had our shoes on, I made to get the bags Coco had given me, when she grabbed me and pulled to her, throwing one arm around my shoulders.

"Now what?" I asked, exasperatedly, and she grinned, holding her scroll out, and started snapping pictures of us, her grinning and me just looking mildly annoyed.

"There, the date's complete! I'll send you copies later."

I rolled my eyes and left the room with her, both of us carrying all the bags she bought.

* * *

When we got back to Beacon, we both parted ways, her heading off to her dorm room.

"We're definitely going to do this again sometime!" She called out cheekily.

"I can hardly contain my excitement." I responded dryly.

I made my way to my room quickly and managed to get inside without anyone spotting me. I was grateful, for once, for missing a few classes. I'd rather not try and explain to anyone I knew why I was carrying a bunch of bags from designer stores.

My scroll chimed, and I groaned. Knowing my luck, it was either Coco, sending the photos she took, or it was Yang, demanding to know how the "date" went. Pulling it out and checking it, it turned out to be the former. Whether that was a good thing or not was up for debate.

The message was simple: "Hey cutie, here's the photos from our date. Be sure to save them, OK?" Attached was a heart. There were few photos. Just one of Coco laying on top of me, our cheeks pressed together as she grinned into the camera while I spluttered, looking at her in shock, and the ones she took before we left, which looked right out of one of those photo booths.

Looking at the photos, I briefly toyed with the thought of just deleting them then and there out of spite. The date wasn't real and I knew that Coco was just messing with me, so no harm done, right?

But I still hesitated. Would it look bad if I deleted them? Would she actually get hurt by it? Too many questions and "What Ifs?" to think about, so I opted to leave them as they were without saving them. I'd figure it out later. For now, I had to get out of these ridiculous clothes and into something more comfortable.

After I changed, I walked out of my room, slipping my scroll into my back pocket, and walked down the hall only to bump into someone.

"Oh, sorry," I said hastily, as Emerald groaned from the ground where she sat, "I wasn't paying attention."

"That's alright," She said with a forced looking grin, "I was actually heading to your room anyway."

"What?" I said flatly eyeing her suspiciously, and she backpedaled quickly, hands in front of her.

"No no, that came out wrong! It's not what you think it is!"

"Then please, enlighten me." I said, making sure to be ready for anything.

"W-well," Emerald looked at the ground, a faint blush on her face, "I-I was wondering...see, I've never been to Vale before, and I don't...really know anyone here, and I really, really wanted to go sightseeing, but I don't know my way around, so..."

 _I-is she asking me for a date, or is she wanting me to show her around Vale? Is there any difference between the two?!_

"So, you're wanting me to show you around Vale, am I correct?" I asked her, and she looked up brightly.

"Oh, would you?!"

"I...guess I could. I mean, it'd be rude not to. Sure, I can show you around."

"Really," Emerald said brightly, eyes shining, "Can we go right now?"

"Right now? I don't actually know about that. I mean, we have classes."

"Oh, that's OK, they only got on for half of today anyway! Nobody will miss us!"

"Ermm...OK. Sure, why not? No one really expects too much out of my anyway."

As we started to leave, I could have sworn I felt something tug on my clothing, like someone was right behind me. I spun around, but nobody was there.

"Are you OK?" Emerald asked, staring at me intently, and I gave one final look at the empty hallway before slowly turning around.

"Yeah, just my imagination acting up. Hey, why didn't you ask Mercury to go with you into Vale?"

Her cheery demeanor immediately dropped, and she groaned loudly, rolling her eyes.

"UGH, please don't even **mention** me going anywhere with him!" She said, a bit louder than need be.

"Ouch," I said with a short laugh, "That bad eh?"

"You don't even know the half of it."

* * *

"I even told him, _'Mercury, I will seriously pay you to shut up'_. He laughed at me, and then has the gall to say that I know I want him!"

"Wow."

"Exactly! It's bad enough he's irritating, crass, and never shuts up, but to realize that he honestly thinks I **like** him? Blech!"

Emerald and I were walking around Vale while we talked, and I quickly found out that she wasn't as cheery as she first seemed to be. For starters, the girl was easily annoyed by quite a few things, many of them starting with the name Mercury.

"Well, while I'm sure it must suck a little to have someone like Mercury as a partner, at least you have one, right? I mean, it could be worse, you could be without one."

Emerald sighed and shook her head.

"Sometimes I wish I **didn't** have a partner."

"No, no you don't." I said quietly, keeping my eyes fixed ahead. She honestly didn't know how lucky she had it. Sure, from what she's told me, Mercury is quite irritating and obnoxious, but it's better than nothing. I'm sure they'd grow closer, given time.

"So, tell me a little about yourself," Emerald said, thankfully snapping me out of my irritatingly common brooding and self-pity, "You don't seem to talk about yourself much."

"Eh, not much to say," I shrugged, "I'm not an interesting person. I've lived an ordinary life, I'm the son of a retired Huntsman and Atlas worker. I was accepted into Beacon and my fighting style's unorthodox, but that's about it. The only real thing of interest would be my family name, but even then, there's plenty of old families out there with a far richer history than mine. I'm just an average guy."

"That's not what the rumors say."

I groaned at that and slapped my hand over my eyes.

"Ugh, of course. OF COURSE. Lemme tell you something, those rumors are FALSE. Not a single one is true!"

We had stopped walking and were staring at each other, her with skepticism, while I probably just looked resigned to my fate.

There was a beat of silence, and then...

"Even the ones about sleeping with multiple girls?"

 **"I FREAKING KNEW IT!"**

Emerald jumped at my outburst, and I struggled to keep from yelling at her more. The poor girl wasn't like them, all she had wanted was for me to show her around Vale.

"Sorry," I said in a much calmer tone, "It's just that I've been trying to dispel that rumor for quite a while now, because it makes it sound MUCH more indecent than it actually is, and the truth is a lot more boring than you think."

"What happened then?"

I looked around, and spotted the same cafe that I somehow end up at often, back when I tracked down Blake, when I chatted with Velvet, and ate dinner with Coco. Might as well continue the newfound tradition!

"Let's get something to eat, and I'll tell you then."

* * *

After I finished recounting the truth behind that damned rumor, Emerald looked a little...disappointed? Let down? Bored even? One of the three, or all together.

Can't blame her, I guess. You hear a rumor about some guy who _"is able to sleep with any girl at Beacon, and then some, even the teachers!"_ , and the real truth is nothing indecent happened and it was against his will, then I guess anyone would be disappointed in that.

"That's just...I don't even know." Emerald said, and I laughed bitterly.

"Yeah, exactly."

"You know," Emerald began, somewhat hesitantly, "It's strange, but I actually find it easy to talk with you. A lot more so than Mercury, that's for sure!"

"Is that so? Well, I guess I'm glad to be of help, I think."

"No, seriously. I've never been able to just talk to anyone like this in a long time. Well, except for Cinder of course, but that's never been casual."

"Cinder, huh? Are you two close?"

"What makes you think that?" She asked me, and I just kind of shrugged.

"Just the way you've mentioned her a few times. You definitely seemed a bit happier when bringing her name up."

She leaned back and seemed to think on this, and nodded.

"She's my leader, and the reason I'm where I am now. Before I met her I was...well, nevermind where I was, that's no longer important. But to answer your question, we're not close like you think. I look up to her and will gladly follow her to the ends of the world."

"I see..."

I wasn't sure what to think of Emerald. From appearances, she seemed like a friendly girl, but when you got past that, you got another side of her.

"Hey, Emerald?"

"Yeah?"

"What's your story? I told you a bit about myself, but what about you?"

That seemed to surprise her, if her staring at me in blatant shock was anything to go by. She blinked a few times, went to say something, and closed her mouth.

"What?" I said, looking at her, and she shook her head.

"Why do you want to know about me?" She asked defensively, and I laughed.

"Um, because I know nothing about you? I told you about myself, and even explained the truth behind those rumors, but you haven't said anything about yourself at all today. You mostly bemoaned your times with Mercury, or talked about Cinder."

"O-oh," she said, looking away, "That's because there's nothing to tell about myself. Seriously, there's nothing interesting to talk about."

I just stared at her, my face deadpan, and arched an eyebrow.

"Really? After what I said about myself, you're going to copy me?"

She laughed, which startled me as I wasn't expecting her to, and after a brief second, I grinned.

"You really want to know me that much? I hope this isn't you falling for me." She said, smirking at me.

"Oh ha ha," I responded dryly, "Pot, meet kettle, I'm sure you'll both become good friends."

Our mirth died down, as did her expression, and she looked at the table. After a few minutes of silence, she finally began to talk.

"I was a street rat before I met Cinder," she began softly, staring intently at the patterns on the table, "It took everything I had to survive just for another day. Stealing, mostly. I had no one to look out for me. And then, one day, Cinder appeared and took me in. She assured me that I would never go hungry again, and I vowed to stay with her until the end."

I...was not expecting that. I felt like I shouldn't have pried, and felt bad.

"That's...I don't know what to say other than I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to pry, honest, I just wanted to know you a bit better, as a friend."

She sighed and looked up at me, and gave a small smile.

"No, it's alright. That was all in the past now, and I'm better off now than I was back then. If given the chance, I wouldn't change it, as I got to meet Cinder, and get to where I am now."

"Well, at least you're happier now." I said, and she nodded.

We got up and left the cafe after a while, and just strolled around, chatting. Emerald told me that she liked Vale, due to how diverse it was, and how clean the streets were, oft citing the city she came from a filthy. Then she swiped an apple from a cart nearby and bit into it, before freezing and looking at me, apple still in her mouth.

I couldn't help it. Just the image of Emerald staring at me, wide-eyed, apple in her mouth caused me to burst out in laughter. She blushed and quickly pulled it away from her mouth, and I shook my head.

"Old habits die hard, I take it?" I asked with a grin, already pulling some Lien out to pay for the fruit as she stammered an excuse behind me.

"Y-yeah, something like that." She said, swiftly finishing the apple off and grinning weakly.

After that incident, we decided to stay away from the vendors. I was lucky enough to have come up with an excuse for the vendor, and even more lucky that he accepted it! I guess as long as you actually pay, they're happy.

After a while, we came to an old shed. That was our first mistake. Emerald seemed interested in it, so we decided to check it out. That was our second mistake.

The place was full of old tools, newspapers, the usual stuff. However, at the end was a mattress, brand new.

"This must be where they get rid of stuff they no longer want, without the need to travel to the dump." I said, looking around the place. Emerald stared at the mattress, some foreign emotion in her eyes as she walked towards it, and slowly knelt down to touch it.

"Emerald, are you OK?" I asked as I walked up behind her, and she sighed and stood up.

"Yeah, just remembering something."

"Does it have to do with how you lived, before meeting Cinder?" I asked gently, and she just nodded, eyes never leaving the mattress. I just stood by quietly, not wanting to say anything. As dumb as I can be, even I can recognize the mood when it calls for it.

Luckily, something **else** ruined the mood instead. Unfortunately for us, it was the sound of the door slamming shut, and the locking clicking in place.

Slowly, very slowly, we both turned to look at the door.

* * *

 _ **"ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!"** _

My voice rang out loudly as I kicked the door.

Hard.

Sadly, the door would not budge. I hit it a couple of times, hoping someone would hear us, but nobody did.

"WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME, AND ALWAYS ME?! IN TWO DAYS I HAVE BEEN LOCKED INSIDE SOMETHING, AND I'M GETTING REAL SICK OF IT."

To say I wasn't too pleased with our predicament would be a slight understatement. Just a slight one, mind you.

Growling in frustration, I reached into my back pocket for my scroll, only to realize that it **wasn't there**. I proceeded to smash my head against the wall a few times to relieve stress.

"What's wrong?" Emerald asked, and I sighed.

"My scroll's gone. I could have sworn I had put it in my back pocket when I left my room earlier today, but apparently I didn't. So I can't call Yang to bust us out."

"Oh," Emerald said, seeming to think for a second, "Well, I have mine with me, so I could call Cinder and have her help us out."

"That would be absolutely fantastic," I replied, "Because I **really** don't want to be stuck locked in a shed with you. Er, no offense meant."

"None taken," she replied, already thumbing through her scroll, "I feel the same way anyway. Plus, judging from your...experiences, I can understand why."

She dialed a number and waited patiently for Cinder to pick up. When the other line picked up, however, we didn't hear the sultry voice of her team leader, but rather one that made Emerald instantly go pale, which was rather impressive, given her complexion.

"Hey Em," Mercury's voice came from the other line, "What'cha doing?"

"Mercury," Emerald growled, teeth clenched and eyes narrowed, "WHY, exactly, do you have Cinder's scroll?"

"She's currently in the showers, and left it here. So me, being the helpful friend that I am, decided to answer your call in her place. Aren't you lucky?"

I backed up nervously as Emerald's grip on her scroll tightened to the point where I was afraid it'd break. She begrudgingly told Mercury about our situation, and held the scroll far away from her as he bust out laughing. Loudly.

"Oh man, that's rich! That's just too rich! I didn't think you were so bold, Emerald! Unfortunately, I'd **love** to help, I really would, but the Bullheads aren't here right now."

"What?!" I yelped in turn, rushing over to Emerald and leaning down to the scroll, "What do you mean they're not there?!"

"Uh, well," he said, humor now gone from his voice, "They kind of went somewhere. Not sure where. Oh, Cinder's here, uh, here ma'am, it's Emerald."

His voice quickly retreated, and Cinder spoke up. Emerald once again explained the situation we were in, and I chimed in a bit when addressed by the older woman. After we were done, there was a slight pause at the end of the line.

"Interesting," Cinder finally said, "I'll see what I can do. At best, I can probably have a Bullhead personally delivered there in an hour. If not, I'll see what I can do tomorrow. You two will just have to sit by and wait."

"Yes ma'am!" Emerald said smartly, and I sighed. Well, better than nothing I guess. The call ended and I sat down on the mattress, massaging my eyes.

"Of course this would happen. It just never ends!" I groaned, and Emerald snickered from where she stood.

"You do seem to have a pretty bad streak of luck, though I'm sure Mercury wouldn't call it that."

I rolled my eyes and flopped down on the mattress, staring at the ceiling.

"Yeah, well next time **he** can take my place. I just want these situations to end."

With that I rolled over and faced the wall, eyes closed.

"What are you doing?" Emerald asked and I didn't bother to turn around.

"Taking a nap. If Cinder can't get a Bullhead out here, I might as well sleep now. If she does, it'll pass the time quicker if I'm not awake."

"Huh." Was all Emerald said as I fell silent. Every was quiet and still, until I felt pressure behind me on the mattress and felt something touch my back.

"Emerald," I said slowly, "Please tell me that you did not just lie down behind me."

"Alright, I won't," came her reply right behind me, even as I felt her back press against me own. Before I could say anything however, she spoke up quickly.

"Don't misunderstand anything. I'm tired too, and this is the only clean place to lie down. It has nothing to do with you, and I'm certainly not happy with it."

"Hmph," I grunted, "So long as you're not doing what every other girl's done so far, I'm alright with that. Hell, you're the first girl I've met that hasn't tried doing anything, and for that, I'm grateful."

We both fell silent after that, at least until I felt a hand slip into my back pocket.

"Emerald, I can feel that, stop it."

* * *

 **Prompt;** _ **"** **Emerald keeps her back facing yours, with her hands occasionally drifting to your pockets."**_

 **Thoughts;** _Agh, I really don't like this chapter. Least favorite right here, and all because of Emerald and the situation they end up in. I couldn't pin Emerald's personality down, no matter how hard I tried. I copped out and used the locked in something scene again, because I honestly couldn't think of how to get to that situation with Emerald._

 _Also, the OC is an unreliable narrator. He thinks Emerald's a sweet girl or something, and thinks she's genuinely torn up about her past and blah blah blah, but that's only because it's what he sees, not what he actually knows. Was she being serious when she talked about her past with him? Does she actually find him easy to talk to?_

 _That, dear readers, is up to you._


	10. Burning Passion And LOTS Of Bad Touches

**Chapter Ten**

* * *

If you had asked me what I thought of Cinder Fall shortly after I first met her, my answer would have been "Exotic". If you had asked me what I thought of her after she kept her word and got a Bullhead sent down to Vale, where she personally broke open the lock, getting Emerald and I out of the shed, I would have said "Exotic AND punctual". I'd probably also call her an angel sent by above.

Hey, you try being locked in a shed for a little over an hour with a girl who kept reaching into your back pockets to take your money.

I'm still not sure I have it all either.

My point is Cinder Fall seemed like just the type of woman I could befriend without worry. She seemed to have a good head on her shoulders, and I could never imagine her thinking _"Hey, he looks like a comfortable body pillow! Let's kidnap him and sleep with him tonight!"_

Trust me, at this point, it doesn't even matter whether I try correcting those rumors or claim nothing inappropriate happened. It all ends up the same; nobody believing me. So I gave up.

Anyway, back to my point. I had a high opinion of Cinder, despite not knowing much about her. She had even found my scroll, saying that she found it on the floor in the hallway. So I decided that I would try and do something nice for her, as thanks for getting me out of that damn shed, and finding my scroll. Like anybody would.

Oh, how I wish I hadn't.

It started innocently enough. When I told her I wanted to do something for her as thanks, she had simply smiled and said that I just owed her a favor, and walked off with Emerald in tow. I didn't think much of it, but I should have. I seriously should have.

The next day saw me accosted by Team RWBY (Actually Yang), with Team JNPR there, surprisingly. Unfortunately, Yang's little gossip network got news to her that not only had I returned from my "date" with Coco, but that I had run off to spend the whole day with Emerald. Needless to say, things got out of hand real fast.

"So, Coco wasn't enough to satisfy you, eh? Needed something more, something only an exchange student could give?"

Yang wiggled her eyebrows at me suggestively, and I resisted the urge to kill myself then and there.

 _Calm down, she wants a reaction. All you have to do is calmly explain what Coco's intentions were, as well as why you were with Emerald all day yesterday. Simple as that._

"So, how were they?" Yang asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"What?"

"Coco's _'coco puffs'_. How were they?"

At this Yang gestured to her chest and made motions with her hands, and it took me a second to get what she was implying, but when I did...

" **YANG XIAO-LONG**!"

Ah yeah, I forgot that Weiss was nearby. Her screech was nearly as loud as my own, and I was positive my skin was beet red now. Also I may now be deaf in my left ear. Pity, that.

"I DID NOT-!"

I couldn't speak properly, instead reduced to a spluttering state. Weiss fared better, giving Yang the third degree. And maybe the first and second degree too. Ruby looked slightly mortified, as did Pyrrha and Jaune. Blake was ignoring the whole situation by reading a book, and Nora was sitting by, a big bowl of popcorn in hand. Ren was asleep against the wall, the lucky bastard.

I managed to take a few deep breaths, and calm myself down by focusing on the goal at hand, which was explaining the situation. Ren himself taught me that technique.

"Look," I started once everyone was calmed down and Weiss wasn't trying to strangle Yang, "nothing happened with Coco."

Yang went to say something but I interrupted her.

"Ah-ap-ap! **Nothing. Happened.** What she was DOING was testing me, trying to see if I was like those damned rumors said I was. The "date" itself was her way of thanking me, as a team leader, for sticking up for Velvet. Got it? That's all that happened."

"Well, that's boring and no fun." Yang said in disappointment, frowning. Then she brightened up, and grinned at me, like a cat that had just cornered a mouse.

I'm not sure if Blake would appreciate that metaphor or not, especially when applied to her more outgoing teammate.

"So, what about Emerald then? Where were you all day, hmmm?"

"Showing her around Vale," I deadpanned, "She's never been here before and she asked me if I could show her around the place, so I did."

"Oh? And it took you alllll day to do so? My, aren't we the kind gentlemen~."

This was getting out of hand.

"OH LOOK, A DISTRACTION!" I yelled loudly, making them jump. I then quickly took my scroll out of my pocket and forwarded Ruby a certain photo I had taken back at the night of the Dance. Specifically the photo of Jaune and Pyrrha asleep in each other's arms. Her scroll chimed and she looked at it, before letting out a loud squeal, getting the others' attention.

Pandemonium ensued.

Nora whooped it up loudly, startling poor Ren awake, Yang laughed uproariously, Weiss turned red and started spluttering, and poor Jaune and Pyrrha were utterly embarrassed and horrified. I quickly left the room amid the chaos, vowing to apologize to the two for throwing them under the bus.

But hey, better them than me!

* * *

I took a walk around Beacon's courtyard to clear my head. With all the excitement that had been going on, I felt that some alone time was desperately needed. I stopped by the statue in the courtyard, and stared at it.

I wondered who the two people depicted were. Were they once mighty heroes, savors of Man and Faunus, immortalized even after their names were forgotten? Or did they represent Huntsmen and Huntresses as a whole?

If...if I died in the line of duty, would I be remembered in such a way? Memories had long lives, but they were also fickle. Even now, I wasn't really anyone important. I had no team, no partner, and while I did have friends, they had their own lives to think about.

I wondered what would happen, if I went on a mission and never returned. If I just disappeared one day, without anyone even realizing I was gone. Would they wonder what happened to me, always waiting for me to one day pop back up?

I had heard that was how Summer Rose, Ruby's mom, died. Went on a mission and never came back.

I was so absorbed in those Grimm thoughts ( _dammit Yang_ ), that I didn't hear the footsteps approaching until a hand rested on my shoulder, causing me to jump.

I turned around to see Cinder standing there, smiling at me in an odd way that I couldn't quite place. It wasn't quite a smirk.

"Oh, Cinder. I didn't hear you coming up. Sorry, I'm normally more aware than this."

"I see..." she said slowly, "And what were you thinking so much about, that you looked as though the world was ending?"

I grimaced stepping away from her, causing her hand to drop to her side.

"Was I really that bad? Sorry. I was just thinking some stupid thoughts."

Apparently unperturbed by me stepping away from her, Cinder simply smiled.

"There are no stupid thoughts. Why don't you tell me about them?"

I thought about it, and decided to tell her. It was just a simple thought, honestly, something I was sure other Huntsmen and Huntresses had once or twice in their lives, and it'd help to get it off my chest. _  
_

"Alright, since you insist."

I looked back at the statue, and Cinder followed my gaze.

"Do you think that statue depicts two people who were once alive?"

Cinder looked at it thoughtfully, but said nothing, and I pressed on, no longer paying attention as she walked up next to me.

"If they were once real people, then this statue is all that remains of them. Even then, do we know their names? Are we truly remembering them, as people? I don't have a team, or a partner. If I were to just quietly disappear one day, would I be remembered? Would anyone even notice I was gone?"

I turned to look at her, and she gazed back at me, her expression unreadable.

"Have you ever thought about this, worried about something as trivial as this?"

She looked at me for a while, before reaching up and caressing my face.

"Yes," she started, and backed away to look at the statue fully, "I have. Ever since I was young, I have wanted to be strong. I wanted to be feared. I wanted to be powerful. I don't want to end up forgotten, or end up weak and helpless. Never again."

She trailed off, and I thought about what she said.

"Who do you want to be feared by?"

She stopped at that, and didn't move for a few seconds. Then she turned and walked back towards me with a light laugh.

"Why, criminals of course. And perhaps the Grimm."

I let out a chuckle at that and shook my head.

"Sadly, I don't think the Grimm fear anyone. Well, maybe Professor Goodwitch. Definitely Professor Port though, for sure."

"That man's stories could scare any living creature," Cinder said with a perfectly straight face. I snorted, trying to hold in my laughter, and shook my head.

"Yes, yes they could."

"So," she said once I got my chuckling under control, "Why aren't you currently with your friends? I've seen you around them quite often."

"Ah," I said, scratching the back of my head nervously, "Well, Yang, the girl with the long blonde hair-"

"Ah yes," Cinder interrupted me, an odd expression on her face, "The generously...endowed one."

Was...was she jealous? Nah, I was probably imagining things.

"Yeeeeah, her," I said slowly, "Anyway, she apparently heard about what happened to Emerald and I yesterday. She kidnapped me, yet again, and tried getting answers out of me, as well as misunderstanding the whole thing. So I decided to take a break from them for a while."

"Is that so? Hmm, interesting."

I wanted to ask her why she thought that'd be interesting, but her scroll chimed. Apparently her team needed her, so she bid me farewell and walked off.

I shook my head and looked back at the statue, before walking away. I needed to do something other than mope around needlessly.

* * *

Once classes were over, I decided to take a short trip into Vale. With break coming soon, then the Vytal Festival right afterwards, I figured I'd get a firsthand look at all the tents being put up.

I like festivals. The town I used to live in before attending Beacon used to have a fruit festival once a year. The town would gather together to celebrate our heritage, and compete in sports and other events. Feeling a tad homesick, I figured the Vytal Festival would be a good way to distract myself.

"Sal-u-TATIONS, friend!"

Oh. Oh no. I recognized that voice anywhere, despite hearing it only once. I slowly, mechanically, turned on the spot, stiff as a board. There, walking towards me, waving, was Penny Polendina.

But surprises didn't stop there. Because right next to her was none other than Ruby herself. OK, maybe I had a chance after all, and slowly relaxed myself.

"Oh, hey Penny, Ruby." I said calmly as they came up to me. Penny seemed slightly different, a little more coordinated. It was like today was Surprise Saturday. Except it wasn't a Saturday.

"See Ruby? We've become friends too!"

Ruby looked at me oddly for a minute, eyebrow raised, then turned to Penny.

"Penny, could I talk to him for a minute?"

The girl nodded with a large smile on her face.

"Of course!"

After that, she just stood there, staring at Ruby expectantly. The wind blew awkwardly as Ruby and I looked at her and I coughed slightly.

"Er, Penny? I kind of meant alone."

Her eyes widened as she finally understood what Ruby meant.

"Oh, of course!"

She then stepped back a bit, allowing Ruby and I to talk alone.

"Soooo," I said slowly, turning to Ruby, "You two know each other."

"Yeah," Ruby replied, scratching her head and smiling awkwardly, "It kind of happened."

"Huh, sounds like what happened to me."

Ruby looked at me, and gave me an odd expression.

"How much do you know about her?"

"Honestly, not that much," I said, shrugging, "I met her that day I was stuck with Coco, and she just kind of asked me to be her friend. She mentioned you, but other than that, we didn't talk much. She left with two Atlas soldiers, and that was it."

"I see," Ruby said slowly, and she seemed relieved, "Well, that's good I guess."

I looked at her and raised an eyebrow, but didn't bother asking her why she said that. Mostly because Penny came back at that moment.

"So friend, what are you doing here?" she asked me, and I just shrugged.

"I wanted to see the tents and preparations that Vale's putting up for the Vytal Festival. What about you two?"

"Ruby and I are hanging out, as they call it, thank you for asking!"

Ruby just shrugged apologetically and smiled. We talked for a bit, and I began to realize that Penny wasn't that bad. Just socially awkward, like Ruby used to be. From her, I learned that she was going to be participating in the Vytal Festival Tournament. Apparently she was "Combat Ready!", and was pretty confident in herself.

"What about you," she asked me, "Will you be participating in the Tournament?"

That was actually a good question, and one I realized I would have to ask Ozpin about.

"I'm not sure," I said, "From what I've heard, you need a team to participate, and sadly, I lack one."

"Did they die?!" Penny asked in a tone that **really** did not fit the question at hand, and I quickly waved my arms, shaking my head.

"No no no, they didn't die. I never had a team in the first place. Beacon had an uneven amount of students this year, and I was the unlucky one who didn't get a partner or team."

"That's terrible," Penny said, and completely stepping into my personal space, grabbed my hands, "Don't worry friend! We can be on a team together!"

"Er, right," I said, looking to Ruby for help. She just shook her head and silently clapped both hands together, as if in prayer, and gave me a slight bow.

 _Ruby, you little traitor._

"Unfortunately, Penny, as tempting as that sounds, I don't think it'd be allowed. I'll have to pass."

She frowned at that, but I casually waved it off with a laugh. Honestly, if you got past the social awkwardness, Penny was kind of adorable, in the younger sister type of way. You felt like you wanted to protect her, and I began to wonder if that was how Yang felt towards Ruby.

I decided that hanging out with those two would be better for me mentally and emotionally, rather than be stuck alone with my angsty thoughts, and asked if I could tag along with them. They were both only too happy to have me along for the ride, so we decided to tour the place and look at all the tents.

"You know," I said at one point as we looked at a large tent being set up, "Apparently there's going to be tents and stalls set up on campus as well, so we won't have to come all the way to Vale to see these."

"Oooh, that means the fairgrounds! We should check out the stalls later!"

Of course Ruby would get excited over that. Their near constant joy and excitement began to rub off on me, and my earlier thoughts were soon gone from my mind.

Eventually we parted ways, with me heading back to Beacon. I had a question I needed to ask Ozpin.

* * *

Upon getting back to Beacon, the first person I sought out was Professor Goodwitch. It would be awkward, as I hadn't been around her since after that night at The Club, but I really needed to talk to Professor Ozpin. I finally found her heading from the cafeteria, and requested to speak to the Headmaster.

She had raised an eyebrow at my request, but led me to the CCT Tower where Ozpin's office is. When we got there, I could see the man looking out the window over Beacon, and Professor Goodwitch announced our presence.

"Oh, hello Glynda. What brings you two here today?"

I shuffled slightly, before stepping forward.

"Um, Professor? I actually had a question I wanted to ask you. It's about the Vytal Festival Tournament."

Ozpin gave me a quizzical look, and motioned for me to continue.

"Well sir, I was wondering, I'm not going to be able to participate in the tournament like everyone else, right? I mean, I don't have a team, and I think only teams can enter."

Both professors looked at each other for a moment, before turning back to me and Ozpin folded his hands in front of him.

"You would be right, unfortunately. The rules of the tournament require a full team to enter. I am sorry."

"Alright, I figured as much," I replied, "Thanks for letting me know, Professor."

I turned and left. I should have been disappointed, and I guess some small part of me was, but I had already resigned myself to the fact that I would have to sit some things out. At this point, I couldn't even be mad about my predicament. It's not like I was the first person to ever attend Beacon alone.

As I left the elevator on the ground floor, I was surprised to find Cinder there, waiting for me with that odd smile of hers.

"Oh, hi Cinder. Did you need something?"

"Actually, I had been looking for you, and saw you enter the Beacon Tower. Making a call to someone?"

I shook my head as I walked, Cinder stepping up beside me.

"Nah, I was meeting with Professor Ozpin."

"Oh," Cinder said, looking more interested than I've seen her be in a topic, "Might I ask what for?"

"Eh," I responded, "I just wanted to ask him if I wasn't going to be able to participate in the Vytal Festival Tournament, due to lack of team, and he confirmed it."

"Is that so," Cinder said thoughtfully, "You must be upset that you're always left out."

I sighed at this, having hoped to avoid these type of thoughts.

"Yes, I'm a little upset about it, I won't lie or pretend otherwise. But I just have to deal with it. I can't do anything about it, and I'm not the first student to attend Beacon without a team, so I won't mope around and be full of self-pity, not anymore."

Cinder stopped without me noticing, and I walked a few feet before realizing that she wasn't with me. When I turned back, she was standing there in thought.

"Hey, Cinder? You OK there?"

She blinked, and that smile was back on her face.

"Of course," she practically purred, sidling up to me, "I was just thinking of something. I've decided to call that favor in that you owe me."

"Oh?" I replied in confusion.

"Meet me in my team's dorm room later tonight at nine."

" **WHAT.** " I said flatly, getting ready to back away, but Cinder brought her hand up to my cheek and grinned.

"Ah-ah-ah. You said you wanted to do something for me, and I'm holding you to that."

With that she left me standing there gaping, swinging her hips as she went. Seriously, what was with girls that I keep meeting that walked like that?!

I groaned and slapped a hand to my face, dragging it down. Why did I do this to myself?! Was it too much to ask that I meet ONE girl who didn't hear those rumors and want anything from me?!

* * *

Nine rolled around and I found myself standing in the guest wing, in front of the room Cinder's team was placed. I was dressed casually, in some beige pants and a blue patterned shirt. Hesitantly, I knocked on the door, cringing. After a few seconds, it opened, revealing Cinder, in a black nightgown that split down the middle, revealing her legs.

I mentally whimpered as she smiled and beckoned me in.

 _Please let it be something simple and innocent._ _Please let it be something simple and innocent._ _Please let it be something simple and innocent._

Mentally chanting that, I hesitantly stepped into the room. Emerald and Mercury were nowhere to be seen, and that did not do much to bolster my mood.

"So, Cinder, what'd you need from me?" I asked, trying desperately to keep the desperation out of my voice. She slowly walked towards me, and I found myself unconsciously backing up until I was pressed against the wall. She pushed right up against me and once more placed her hand on my cheek. Our faces were inches apart now, and I was close to freaking out.

 _Bad touch!_  
 _Bad Touch!_  
 _Stranger Danger!  
I need an adult!_

"I've heard some interesting rumors about you," she purred, her amber eyes glowing gold, "Even more interesting was what I saw on your Scroll when I found it. Interesting pictures you have saved there."

As I tried to stutter a response, Cinder gently turned me away from the wall, walked forward, making me go backwards, then pushed me. Hard. I felt like my body heated up for a brief moment as I fell onto a bed, and groaned, trying to sit up.

Cinder crawled onto the bed, which I presumed was hers, and pushed me down, one of her fingers to my lips.

"You owe me a favor, and I'm calling it in now." She whispered, much to my ever growing fear and horror. Then she turned around, and laid down on top of me. With her feet near my face, with her own face near my feet.

 _What the hell?_

Out of all the situations I've found myself in over the past few months, this was by far the strangest. Was she seriously going to sleep like this?! In this way?!

"C-Cinder..." I went to say, starting to crane my head down to look at her, when her response stopped me dead.

"I just thought I'd let you know, but I'm not wearing anything underneath."

My brain stopped, restarted, stopped again, and rebooted itself as I processed the words she just said until I finally came to the logical conclusion.

 _Oh. My. **God.**_

My head snapped back down onto the pillow real fast and stayed there.

 _Don't look down._ _Don't look down._ _Don't look down._ _Don't look down._ _Don't look down._ _Don't look down._ _Don't look down._

I mentally chanted that all night long, keeping my eyes fixed **firmly** on the ceiling above, and did NOT dare move them anywhere else. As I felt Cinder's breathing deepen, and she grabbed my legs and held them tightly, I made one final resolution right then and there.

 _I am NEVER owing anyone a favor. **NEVER. AGAIN.**_

* * *

 **Prompt:** **"** _ **Cinder sleeps on top of you, but backwards, her torso between your legs and her feet resting next to your face.**_ **"**

 **Thoughts;** _This chapter was hard to write, and_ _the sole reason is because of Cinder's (lack of) personality. It was hard to write her out. As you can see throughout this fic, I like to at least TRY (and fail) to keep everyone in character. I also don't like how damn angsty the OC seems at times, even if he justified in feeling down sometimes.  
_

 _Also, am I the only one who realizes that Cinder is REALLY touchy feely? Seriously, rewatch the show and see how many people she touches. It's awkward._ _She also totally goes commando when she sleeps! Finally, please remember, Unreliable Narrator is in full effect in this story. What you see is what the OC sees and believes._


	11. In Which I Became A Body Pillow

**Chapter Eleven**

* * *

I glared up at the ceiling fan as it spun around, unable to move. My ankles hurt from the rope binding them together, and my arms were burning something fierce from being tied behind my back. I would have voiced my displeasure, but the cloth tied around my mouth, gagging me, preventing any noise from coming out.

To my immediate left was the small she-devil responsible for this. Her head was on my chest, one arm draped over me while the other was under my back, holding me tightly, and one leg draped over my own two while the other was underneath them.

In short, I was a living body pillow for this madwoman, and an angry one at that. Unfortunately, all I could do was huff in irritation to show my displeasure. I couldn't even roll off the bed, as the first time I tried that, the woman let my head bounce off the floor a few times before dragging me back up. She was surprisingly strong for such a tiny thing.

How had I managed to land myself in this situation? Well, it slowly started after my night with Cinder, which is still something I'll never be able to forget, no matter how hard I try to...

* * *

After Cinder had woken up that morning, she had promptly thrown me out the room, making a few remarks I will not delve into, or ever utter to another living soul for as long as I live. It makes me uncomfortable just thinking about it even now!

Anyway, I had come to the conclusion that I was spending WAY too much time surrounded by Estrogen, and a desperate change of scenario was required. Namely, I needed to spend more time around members of the same sex as myself, lest I lose my mind and become more feminine.

So after giving it some thought, and pooling together my Lien, I decided that a trip into Vale with the guys was in order. Besides, it gave the girls times to themselves to gossip, and us guys time to ourselves. With that in mind, I invited Jaune, Ren, Sun, Neptune, Fox, and Yatsuhashi to go see a new action movie that was playing in theaters.

As luck would have it, they all agreed, and we spent the afternoon watching General Atlas: Uncivil Conflict. It felt good being able to do something NORMAL for once without fear of having a girl drag me off, or get locked in somewhere with one.

"That was AWESOME," Jaune said excitedly as we left the theater, "General Atlas is the coolest superhero ever!"

"I don't know," Sun smirked, walking backwards to look at us as we went, "Coal Tiger was pretty cool."

"You just like him because he reminds you of Blake," Neptune said causing Sun to splutter in denial while the others laughed.

"General Atlas should be commended for sticking to his morals and code of honor," Yatsuhashi spoke up. It was surprising that the big man would volunteer to see an action movie, but he took it in stride, "A man is nothing without his beliefs."

Fox said nothing, and just nodded along. It was honestly eerie how he could see, despite his eyes being pure white, and the way he never talked, or smiled. But he seemed to have enjoyed himself, so I guess that counts. At least, I hope he enjoyed himself.

"Speaking of Coal Tiger," I heard Jaune say, bringing me back to the present, "His fighting style is almost like yours, just with less jumping about."

It took me a few seconds to realize he was talking to me, and when I looked up, I realized they were **all** looking at me.

"Indeed," Ren spoke up, "It is strange that the styles are similar to each other by that much. Did you perhaps take inspiration from the character?"

"Nah, my family's developed that style for generations," I replied, "It's just a coincidence that they're similar. Coal Tiger's inspiration is a cat, so it makes sense for him to fight that way."

They all hummed in agreement, and we continued walking, until Neptune spoke up.

"Sooo...ladies. You. How do the two mix so well?"

"We don't," I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose, "They're the ones who decide what happens, not me."

"Besides," Jaune spoke up, glaring at Neptune, "Why would you want to know, anyway? I thought you liked Weiss?"

"Oh I do," Neptune quickly replied, holding his hands up lest Jaune leap at him, "I was just curious as to how he could somehow end up in the arms of some of the most popular girls at Beacon at night, and have it all be completely innocent and platonic."

Well, if there were anyone who knew that nothing dirty went down during those situations, it was the guys, and for that I was extremely grateful.

"I don't even know," I complained, slumping as we sat down at a fast food restaurant to eat, "Sometimes it just...happens! Other times it's because the girl heard the rumors. It's getting old, to be honest. Most guys would think it would be a dream come true, but they have no idea how it feels to wonder if the girl talking to you wants to use you so they can sleep better or not. One of the reasons why I invited you all to tag along today."

"Ohhhh," Neptune and Sun both said in unison, while the others looked at me in sympathy.

"It is odd that you seem to attract girls to you for something as innocent as platonic cuddling though," Ren spoke up, hands folded under his chin as he stared at me, "Even odder that Nora and Pyrrha haven't seemingly succumbed to it yet."

I had a mental image of Nora cuddling with me, breaking my bones and snapping my spine in the process, and I'm sure I turned pale, even as I shivered in horror at the thought. Ren must have realized what I imagined, because he was quick to continue speaking.

"Well, I'm sure I can understand why. Pyrrha and Jaune are finally together," and with that, Sun and Neptune cheered for him as Jaune blushed deeply, while Yatsuhashi calmly congratulated him and Fox ignored the conversation entirely, "And Nora...well Nora isn't like that."

"That's because you two are together," Jaune mumbled, getting back at Ren for putting him on the spot, and the quiet boy simply coughed politely.

"We're not together-together."

"Yeah yeah, so you constantly say," Jaune said dismissively, waving his hand.

"When **will** you two be, though?" Sun asked, and everyone turned to look at Ren, who, to his credit, was unfazed by the question.

"I assure you, if that should ever happen, I will let you all know. Or Nora would, I'm sure. Along with the rest of Remnant."

We laughed at that, because we could easily see Nora doing such a thing, and Neptune turned to Yatsuhashi and Fox.

"How about you two? Are you two close to Coco and Velvet?"

"I look out for Velvet and protect her," Yatsuhashi said solemnly, and we waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't. We then turned to Fox, who stared back at us, not moving an inch. The air around him was almost challenging, like he was daring to ask us about his and Coco's relationship.

"Riiight," Neptune said, then he turned to me, "So, how about you? Which girl to you like?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes; "I believe I've already said this before, but I'm not looking for love at Beacon. It's not what I'm there for."

"Oh c'mon," Sun spoke up, "Humor us at least! If you could get together with one of the girls we all know, who would it be? Hypothetically?"

I mentally debated about it, and decided to at least entertain the thought, knowing it wouldn't happen. But when I thought of all the girls I knew, none came to mind on who I could see myself ending up with.

"Nobody," I started, and held up a hand before they could protest or complain, "I'm being serious. I actually decided to think about it, and nobody comes to mind. I'm just not interested."

They seemed disappointed at this, and Jaune shrugged.

"Well, I think you'd go great with Yang," he said, and we all stared at him.

"What? You can't tell me that they're not alike in some ways! Long hair, their fighting styles are a little similar, they get along really well, and she's always grabbing him and dragging him off with her."

"Yeah, to interrogate me," I grumbled, crossing my arms, but they paid me no mind, now caught up in pairing me up with different girls.

"What about Ruby," Neptune asked, "From what I heard, she was the first girl to cuddle up with him!"

"OH HELL NO!" I retorted fiercely, but I went ignored.

"What about Weiss," Sun asked, and Neptune threw him a look, "Sorry dude, but I can't just see it working out between you two. Besides, the two seem to share something that could make it work. Have you seen her tutor him on Dust? I didn't think the Ice Queen could ever be that patient with someone."

"I'm right here you know," I grumbled, "I can hear you."

"Oh yeah," Neptune retorted hotly, "What about him and Blake? She seems to trust him, and has no problems talking to him. Plus we've heard about his family's tradition!"

"...Dude," Sun said, looking hurt.

"How about Emerald," Ren spoke up, causing all heads to turn to him, "I heard the two spent quite a bit of time two days ago in Vale, and she was asking around about him."

"Nah, I can't see it," Neptune said, waving his hand lazily.

"I have to admit, I don't either," Yatsuhashi spoke up, "But Coco **did** show some interest in him after we heard he helped Velvet out."

 _Great,_ I thought, rolling my eyes, _Now Yatsuhashi's getting in on it too. And I thought Ren was above all this!_

Beside the larger guy, Fox simply nodded, arms folded, expression the same.

 **"Actually,"** I said loudly and firmly, getting their attention, "Coco was only interested in the rumors about me, and wanted to see what type of person I was, probably to make sure I had no ulterior motives regarding Velvet."

"Ahhh," they all said, and Neptune spoke up.

"Well...maybe girls aren't what you're interested in?"

My head hit the table.

"Ha-Ha no," I said flatly.

"I still think he and Yang would be a great couple," Jaune spoke up, and after some fierce debating, everyone started to agree with him.

"Could we kindly stop trying to pair me up with girls when I'm obviously not interested in love?!" I demanded, trying to glare them into submission. They all stopped, turned and looked at each other, and promptly resumed the conversation. I groaned and stood up.

"Whelp, that's that. Here's the money, tab's on me, sorry guys, but I'm off."

Jaune waved his hand to indicate he heard me, but didn't bother looking at me and continued the topic. I sighed and put the Lien on the table before leaving the restaurant.

* * *

I wandered around Vale for a while, just enjoying the silence that I got only when I was alone. It was a nice day, and although the fairgrounds were set up, it wasn't so noisy that I couldn't hear myself think. It was rather nice. As I was walking around, a girl caught my eye. No, not in that way, and not because she was like Cinder, who I couldn't even look at the same way again.

No, it was because she was so tiny! She had to have been around four foot something, as she was shorter than Nora, and she was only five foot one! She had black hair in twin ponytails, and was wearing a black outfit that exposed her midriff.

She was wandering around the fairgrounds, as though looking for someone, looking this way and that, biting her lower lip as she went.

 _Nope! Not getting involved this time, no sir! Sorry girl, but you're on your own. I would help, but nothing good ever comes from me helping women!_

I forced myself to turn around and walk a few steps, before looking back at the girl, who was just standing there. I turned and walked a few more steps, before stopping and groaning. With a huge sigh, I turned around and walked over to her, inwardly cursing myself for my kindness.

"Excuse me," I said, and she turned to me, "Are you lost?"

The girl looked at me for a moment, before her eyes lit up. She nodded enthusiastically and I withheld a sigh.

"Are you looking for someone?"

She shook her head, and I realized that she hadn't said a word to me.

"Uhm, please don't think I'm being rude for asking, but...are you able to speak?"

She tilted her head and blinked, and I mentally kicked myself. She reached out to grab my hand and pulled it towards her, and started running her finger across my palm, tracing what I recognized as words.

 **I'm here for the Vytal Festival with my team from Mistral. I wanted to visit the fairgrounds and got turned around.**

"Ah," I said, scratching my head, "Well...would you like me to show you around?"

Her eyes, which I noted were green, widened and she quickly started writing on my hand again.

 **Really?!**

"Sure. I'm not doing anything right now, and it wouldn't be right to leave you lost around here."

She grinned widely and wrote **Thank you** on my palm, before tugging on my arm, pointing to a stall, and I let her drag me over there. I was still a bit hesitant in helping her, but in the end I went along with it. I mean, that WAS what being a Huntsman was all about, helping people.

We went from stall to stall, sometimes winning, sometimes losing. It became embarrassingly obvious that I was pretty bad at the stalls with the guns. I did well in the ball toss though. I REFUSE to say how I did at the dancing contests.

All in all, it wasn't TOO bad. The young girl was enjoying herself, and I'll admit I was too. It wasn't a bad way to spend the day.

While we were going from stall to stall, I had asked her for her name, since it'd be rude not knowing her name even though I was spending a few hours with her.

She had simply grinned and traced her finger across my palm, writing out the letter **N** , before giggling silently and running to another game.

"...N?"

Was...was that it? Just N? Or did her name start with N? I followed after her, thinking hard. I couldn't just call her N, could I? It felt so impersonal. Or maybe I was overthinking it. If that's what she wanted me to call her, then oh well.

We wondered around a bit more as I showed around, all the while visiting stalls. It was slow, but after the things I'd gone through the past few weeks, I was alright with it.

The day was wrapping up, and it was time for me to be heading off.

"Well N," I said, turning to the girl walking beside me, "It's getting late. Do you need help getting back to Beacon?"

N shook her head and I smiled.

"Well, alright then. I'll be off. Take care now, and try not to get lost again!"

N grinned and I turned and walked away, heading towards Beacon. I was sure the other guys would have gone back by now, so no sense in returning to town. Unfortunately, I didn't get too far.

I was nearing Beacon when something struck me in the back of the head. **Hard.** I'm pretty sure I dropped like a sack of bricks, because I was unconscious before I even hit the ground.

When I came to, I was in a dark room lying on a bed, with my hands and feet bound together with thick rope, while my mouth was gagged with a cloth. I couldn't see anything until my eyes adjusted to the dark, but I knew I wasn't going to sit around and wait for that to happen, so I started trying to undo the ropes while keeping calm.

 _Huh, I guess Professor Port's lessons and stories about being captured by a cannibalistic tribe in Vacuo actually paid off._

That's when I heard a quiet giggle off in the darkness, and froze. Huntsman or not, lessons or no, when you hear something like that, it chills your blood. My eyes darted back and forth, trying to pinpoint the source. My heart was pounding, and I was trying to assess the situation as best I could while trying not to panic.

Then I heard footsteps getting closer to the bed, and N suddenly came into view. I blinked stupidly, trying to process what I was seeing. The young girl giggled again and held up a piece of paper.

 **My team has told me stories about you. I figured I'd see if they were true.**

 _Oh for the love of-  
_

I let out a curse, which was muffled by the gag, and N giggled again, right before sliding onto the bed with me, wrapping her arms around me and shifting one leg under my own, while the other rested on top. She then laid her head on my chest.

 _Great, so now I've been delegated to 'personal body pillow'. Fan-TASTIC._

I laid there for hours, staring up at the ceiling. At one point, I rolled off the bed after I thought she feel asleep, hoping I could sneak out. No such luck, not when I ht the ground with a thud, and when she leaned over to pull me back up, she not only bounced my head off the floor a few times, but she was in no way gentle hoisting me back over either.

So that left me to lay there in pain while she used me as an angry body pillow all night, a content smile on her face, and a glower on my own.

* * *

 **Prompt; _"Neo ties your feet together, pins your arms behind your back, and uses you like a living body pillow."_  
**

 **Thoughts:** _Tfw your friends try shipping you with your other friends. Slightly based on a true story, by the way. Brrr. OK, I think THIS is by far the weakest chapter. I don't like it. Nothing was satisfying about writing it, outside of maybe the first half. Maybe. Neo made it difficult to write, as outside of her being smug, she has no personality. But I digress. Apologies for the long wait. I haven't been totally quiet though. I DID go back and edit chapters **2** , **3** , and **6**. Give 'em a re-read, they should flow a bit better now. Also, like the new layout for the AN? I figured this was easier to read and better than one big ass note squashed together. Each chapter is now like this, with the prompt up there and my thoughts about the chapter after. _**  
**


End file.
